Assembled Drabbles
by EnglandBabe1997
Summary: Assembled Avengers drabbles xx Send in requests if you want xx
1. Mirror Images

Loki wasn't really evil.

He was just like many of the other Avengers - none of them had been brought up in homes that could be called perfect. In fact, he was very similar to Tony - not that he'd ever compare himself to the mortal. Both had troubled pasts, a reputation to uphold and five or six suitcases full of baggage.

When he'd stood in Stark Tower, on the other side of the room to the genius, they had each seen the glimmer of understanding that went unspoken.

They were the same, mirror images of each other.

But that meant that if Tony wasn't evil, neither was Loki.

They were both too complicated for labels like that.


	2. Red

She was a solitary person by nature. Well, it had been nature at first. Then it was upbringing, then training.

By the time she joined SHIELD, kicking screaming and ready to die (or kill everyone else), she was alone because there was so much red on her ledger and she refused to drag anyone else down with her.

For a long time she hadn't been trusted - and that lack of trust had been mutual.

She was the lone assassin.

But he kept on breaking at her defences. When they finally shattered, but didn't crumble, he showed her the cracks in her own defences.

Both of them had red on their ledgers.

But, maybe, together they could wipe it out.


	3. Sore Loser

He'd lost.

_He'd_ lost.

Loki, God of Mischief, _God_, had been beaten by a group of mere mortals (and his 'brother' – not that Thor really counted). He was a God that had been beaten by a team that was even more broken than he was.

He couldn't stand the shame.

He'd worked hard for his reputation – at first it hadn't been intentional. But now, cultivated or otherwise, his standing amongst his co-villains had just gone down majorly.

That seemed to happen every time he went head to head (or horn to hammer) with his 'brother' and his new found team.

He actually pouted.

This wasn't fair.

The only good thing about his defeat was the fact that now he had time to plan his next scheme. (Maybe something involving chickens and robots?)


	4. Bored

Loki was bored.

He'd been stuck in this 'God proof' cage for the last twenty minutes and had to be in here for at least another seventy for his plan to work properly. There was nothing for him to do except wait for his plan to work.

And it was boring.

"Bored. Bored. Bored. Bored." His voice got progressively louder.

Agents Barton and Romanoff just looked at him, eyebrows raised. The Captain just looked at him with that unfailing patience which had stopped being taught about 60 years ago. Tony turned his iPod up louder. Thor just looked amused by his adopted brothers' antics.

Bruce's eye twitched.

"I've got a song that will get on your nerves, get on your nerves, get on your nerves. I've got a song that will get on your nerves..."

Bruce throttled the air in front of him.

Tony wondered who had educated Loki about human culture so he could kill them. Or destroy their reputation.

Thor just hummed along. This mortal song was quite catchy.


	5. Modern Music

"What is _this_?" Steve was shouting and blushing wildly as he clapped a hand over his eyes.

JARVIS's voice replied, "This, Captain Rogers, is music."

"This is _music_?"

"Yes, Captain Rogers."

"Who _invented_ this?"

Tony walked into the room, took one look at the TV and whistled; before throwing a glance at the red faced Captain who was frantically trying to change the channel.

He didn't succeed.

"I see you found pop music. And music videos."

Steve was gaping like a fish and still had a hand over his eyes. "Do all women look like this in the videos?"

Tony hummed in agreement.

"Where are all their clothes?"


	6. Mr Tibbles

**This was a prompt from a pair of friends who asked me to write about panda's and cat's xx**

"And what is this?" Thor's eyes were wide and pressed to the glass.

Tony rolled his eyes as Bruce replied, "It's called a panda."

"We have nothing like this on Asgard."

"Soon we won't have it on Midgard either," Clint mumbled behind him.

"And this?"

"I know this one!" Steve was very easily excited. "It's a leopard."

"What are these leopards?"

Natasha explained, "They're a type of giant cat."

"A cat? Like Mr Tibbles?"

Tony rolled his eyes again – he seemed to be doing that an increasing amount lately – "only Point Break would rename R&D's pet cat. I was joking when I said it was called Mr Tibbles."

Thor started before turning to Tony, away from the glass. "You mean to tell me, Man of Iron, that the furry animal at your Tower is not called Mr Tibbles?"

Everyone sighed.


	7. Still Family

At times Thor thought it might be easier just to tell the world that Loki was adopted and then proceed to ignore the entire thing; with the occasional exception, attempting to tempt him into giving up his evil ways. But he knew he couldn't do that.

Firstly, himself. It wasn't in him to give up, even when it was harder than he'd ever anticipated and he honestly didn't _care_ anymore.

But he did care.

And that brought him to the second reason. Loki was Loki. Mischievous, sharp tongued and equally sharp witted. Sometimes malicious and evil. But they had been brought up as brothers and so, as far as Thor was concerned, that would never change.

Loki was still his brother and always would be, despite his desperate interventions to prove otherwise.


	8. Thor Meets

Thor looked at the furry yellow thing in front of him with confusion. "What is this?"

(He'd forgotten he was no longer in Stark Tower and so the magic voice Man of Iron had named JARVIS wasn't going to come to his aid.)

"It looks like an agnefluff. Only it smells better."

He turned around at the lack of response and then gave a momentary start when he realised he was alone, in case the fluffy thing was hostile.

It purred adorably.

It appeared Bruce had heard his comments as he walked in. A look of bewilderment appeared on his face. "This is impossible."

"What is it?" Thor pointed a finger at the yellow creature.

"It appears to be Pikachu."


	9. Proven Wrong

Steve Rogers was almost better at nothing than proving people wrong. He'd proved them wrong with the serum when he'd become the world's first (and, according to Bruce, only) super soldier. He'd surpassed all of their expectations.

He proved them wrong when they'd said he was perfect.

At first he hadn't realised he'd proved them wrong. He'd thought he was telling the truth and the truth hurt and that wasn't his fault.

It wasn't until later Steve realised that the flash of hurt in Tony's eyes wasn't because of the truth but because of the lies. When he realised it made him feel like the bullies back in Brooklyn, the ones he'd grown up with.

He'd never been less glad to be proven wrong.

He'd started believing he was perfect. This had reminded him he wasn't.


	10. Team Bonding

The team bonding had been forcefully suggested by Fury, aided and abetted by Captain Steve Rogers. At first none of them particularly wanted to; Steve knew it would help teamwork, Natasha and Clint only participated due to orders from SHIELD, Bruce honestly didn't care, Thor wanted to know what this 'bonding' was and Tony was only persuaded by Pepper Potts who accidently mentioned the side effects of what could happen.

Tony desperately wanted to watch Natasha and Steve lose their cool.

And the first couple of times, that's exactly what happened, Along with the rest of the team; except Bruce, who kindly excused himself when he felt his temper rising, and Thor, who simply got steadily more confused.

He didn't understand half of what the rest of the team said.

In the end it was long and painful and painfully hilarious and _none_ of them would admit that they'd enjoyed it.

But they all knew it.

(And if they now burst into laughter when Director Fury walked into a room it wasn't because they'd spent a good portion of their bonding time imitating and joking about the strict manners one-eyed Director. Even Thor had understood that.)


	11. Shock

He gaped at the security feed he'd hacked into, mouth open in surprise. It was the closest thing to shock he'd been in a long time.

"That lying..." He couldn't think of a word bad enough. His shock had rendered him temporarily mute. But he was Tony Stark. He didn't stay silent for long.

He stormed into the room next door, walking straight through it and ignoring its curious occupants as though they were invisible, cursing and muttering under his breath.

"Stark?" Clint refused to admit to concern.

"Tony?" Bruce on the other hand had no such qualms.

"That lying, cheating, manipulative..."

"Who are you talking about?" The whole room could make an educated guess but Bruce wanted to know for certain and, if they were all correct, what Director Fury had done to entice this level of fury in the usually mild tempered Tony Stark.

Natasha practically shouted at him, shooting him a death glare. "Stark what is it?"

"Coulson is still alive."

Well, when you said that it was easy to understand Stark's anger. They were starting to feel it themselves.


	12. Confronting Fury

The team stormed into the helicarrier as a united force - a force forged in lies. Fury was going to pay.

"Fury!" Stark was visibly livid. The Avengers realised how mild a temper the billionaire actually had.

The Director raised an eyebrow at the advancing team. He didn't think he'd done anything recently to incite this kind of emotion. Nothing except... Realising what they'd found out, he actually gulped, warily eyeing the furious team, who had admittedly taken down the God of Chaos.

"Why didn't you tell us Coulson was alive?" Natasha's voice was deadly.

Stark interrupted, "I've got a better question, why did you tell us he was dead?"

"It worked as a ruse to get you to work as a team. And for a while there he was dead."

Natasha was calm but still, the kind of stillness a viper has before it springs. "I can understand that. I can't understand you continuing the ruse."

"He wasn't well enough to receive visitors."

"He was lying unconscious in a hospital bed. Do you really think he can tell if we're there or not?"

The team continued their advance, all looking very irritable. Fury began to think this hadn't been a good idea after all.


	13. Monopoly

"Pepper..." Tony whined. "Clint's cheating again!"

Pepper wondered when she'd become mother to a load of emotionally repressed superheroes.

"Peps..."

Pepper smirked and patted her boyfriend on the head from where he was sitting on the floor. Clint smirked at him from across the room.

Bruce rolled the dice smiling when he got the number he'd wanted. Natasha was next and she rolled a number which she hadn't wanted, scowling darkly before handing some of her money over to a grinning Tony.

Steve still looked baffled.

That made it easier for Clint to cheat him out of his money.

Pepper saw and couldn't help but laugh, before directing a playful frown at the archer.

Why had she decided to let a team of superheroes play Monopoly? It was more work for her than babysitting usually was.


	14. Warnings

Tony was more damaged than he ever let anyone see. Misconceptions were things to be avoided in his line of business (both current and past) and he'd been brought up to only show them the mask.

If they couldn't see you they couldn't find your weaknesses.

And if they didn't know your weaknesses they couldn't hurt you.

The perfect plan for someone working like he did.

But he couldn't keep his walls up all the time.

Some people slipped through.

Pepper.

Happy.

Rhodey.

The Avengers (eventually).

Even Yinsen (for two people that spent three months together in a terrorist cell, they were pretty close. That wasn't surprising.)

Obadiah.

Obadiah had taught him that no one could be fully trusted, even with his walls down.

He couldn't decide if he was grateful for the warning.


	15. Trading Cards

It was three days after the Battle of Manhattan (as the tabloids had come to call it). The Avengers had been helping rescue survivors and planning for rebuilding and generally helping out when they could.

But today none of them could.

Neither could a good portion of SHIELD.

Today was Phil Coulson's funeral.

It was a sombre affair (as most funerals often are) and even Tony was respectful and generally well-behaved.

It hadn't rained, though the oppressive mood would lead you to believe that it had, and all of the Avengers (even Thor, who didn't fully understand the custom) paid their last respects to the one man who'd always believed in heroes.

And just before it was lowered, Steve placed the signed vintage Captain America trading cards into the casket.


	16. Aging

Steve was the leader of the Avengers. He had fought in World War Two and punched _Hitler_. He'd seen a fair bit more than most people.

It made them forget how young he really was. He was only in his early twenties and he'd seen things, _done_ things, that most people never had to do in their lives. It was hard to remember that you're leader was younger than you when he was giving orders with so much authority. So much experience.

But none of them could forget how young he looked, lying still and pale on the hospital bed.


	17. Respect

Maria Hill was feared by many of her SHIELD colleagues – or at least respected. She'd been Fury's second in command for longer than most people would expect – given her age – but she'd earned every minute of it.

It generally caused people to be wary of her.

Fury trusted her – as far as Fury could trust _anyone_. Spies weren't known for their secret sharing tendencies.

Natasha and Clint sometimes trusted her. They had pasts full of too much pain and betrayal to fully trust anyone but each other – but they were learning to be part of a team. They were slowly stating to trust.

Phil had _liked_ her. She'd liked him too.

But he'd never been scared of her. She would remember him as the best mentor she'd ever had.


	18. In Time

Steve was a man out of his time. And somehow he didn't mind. Not anymore.

He never really had minded. It wasn't the time he'd been attached to, it was the people.

Before he'd had Howard and Bucky and everyone else. Now he had the Avengers – not that they would ever replace them. Now had had Thor (who was from somewhere he'd never even dreamed of as a kid), Clint and Natasha (who were frankly scary), Bruce and Tony.

Tony, who was somehow Howard _and_ Bucky. He looked like Howard and had his mind and sometimes they were identical. But Tony was also fiercely protective of the few he cared about and was always willing to get into a fight for his friends. Like Bucky.

He'd had Peggy. And they'd never had their dance.

But now Steve had someone else to dance with.

Maria was a surprisingly good dancer.

(He supposed she'd learnt it for once of his missions.)


	19. Trust and Tin Soldiers

Clint didn't trust people. Not completely. Not ever. Not yet.

All he'd learnt until he was twenty was that trusting people was like handing a murderer the knife only covering it in salt first.

Then he'd met Phil, in prison after a job gone wrong. At first it was just a way to get out of jail and find out what this _SHIELD_ had on him. But soon he started to respect – dare he say _like _– Phil, and follow orders from Fury.

He hadn't willingly taken orders in a long time.

He didn't even know why he'd started to now.

Next it had been Natasha, who reminded him of himself – alone and bitter and a product of the bitterness of others. None of it was really her fault. She was what they'd made her and Clint told her that.

She told him the same about Loki.


	20. The Wizard of Oz

It was strange that Stark had used a reference to The Wizard of Oz. It wasn't to make Steve feel more comfortable - from what he could tell, the only person Tony Stark liked to be comfortable was himself - but that fact that it was _that_ particular one infuriated him for reasons he hadn't quite known at the time.

He knew why now.

Dorothy had been swept away in a storm to a place where nothing and no one was familiar. The only person she'd had was Toto.

Steve didn't even have a pet dog.

And no matter what happened, even if he clicked his heels together, he would never be home again (never mind the fact that Stark would probably appreciate him in the red heels.)


	21. Finding Out

**This one is for Lily xx Please read and review xx**

Natasha

She realised what was going on straight away. She was a spy. It was kind of her job - and she hadn't gotten where she had without being good at it. Her survival depended on how good she was at her job.

She might hate love, think it was for children and consider it a weakness, but even she could see how good a couple they were. And she almost never said that.

In fact she didn't think she'd ever said it before.

Clint

Clint was next. He was only second because he had spent three weeks in Singapore on a mission and even though he was the best at seeing from a distance, even he couldn't see _that_ far.

But when he did notice he wasn't exactly surprised. He could see anything coming from miles away.

Bruce

He didn't really know either of them that well - not yet. But he'd spent more than enough time during the last few years watching people and their reactions.

He was third to notice.

Tony

He might not be particularly observant, or indeed _like_ either of the people involved, but he was a businessman. He noticed things like that. It was kind of in the job description.

Beyond that he was paranoid and stalked SHEILD. He couldn't really miss it.

Thor

Thor was the God of Thunder.

He was also the God of Obliviousness.

He was the last to find out.

It took Steve and Maria kissing in front of him before he realised.

(At first he thought Loki had been mind controlling them at first. The ensuing reaction had been caught on film by JARVIS.)


	22. The Shovel Talk

When Bucky had woken up in the twenty-first century, at first he hadn't believed them. It took the viewing of music videos and reality TV to convince him otherwise - neither experience he wanted to repeat.

He'd then found out that Steve had taken an unexpected power-nap and now both of them had stayed young 70 years longer than they were supposed to. Apparently Steve was part of the Avengers team - that dealt with threats that couldn't be handled by ordinary people. He was also in a relationship with Tony Stark.

Bucky wasn't quite sure how to feel about that.

One the one hand, Tony was, well, male, and a _Stark_ at that.

On the other, even without having seen the pair together, this Tony undoubtedly made Steve happier than Bucky had seen in a long time.

He didn't know quite what he was going to do.

But for now Steve was happy. The shovel talk could wait.


	23. Truth and Lies

Natasha Romanoff prides herself for many things. She is also know for equally as many. She is not modest - she is good at what she does and the world know that, with a ruthless efficiency that scares most of them and the remainder respect.

She knows she is good at getting information out of people.

And she knows she is even better at getting there.

Many people have fallen for her charms, been manipulated in her games, but it was rare for her to find someone different.

Tony Stark is different. There is something about him - the way he is dying and knows it and still carries on like nothing is happening. The darkness, the blood on his hands. He knows what it was like to have a debt to pay.

She thinks it's almost a shame he will never trust her again.


	24. Love Is For Children

Love was for children. That was what she'd told him all those years ago - once they'd done with their pretences and covers and were simply assassins of the highest calibre, letting their walls drop just far enough to actually tell the truth.

Love held no place in her world - the only thing that mattered was how much red you had on your ledger. For her, there wasn't enough room to fit anything else on it. There was only the red she wanted to wipe out. Her entire life was spent on that.

Love was for children.

But Clint loved her anyway.


	25. Old Colleagues

Director Fury had not always been, well, Director Fury.

Nick Fury had met Howard Stark a long time back, back when Howard and Peggy Carter had been setting up the organisation now known as SHIELD. Howards was in fact the one who came up with the nickname - he was a Stark. He didn't want to say anything longer than he had to.

Both Howard and Peggy had been close, well, colleagues. He couldn't say friends. No decent spy actually had friends.

But Howard had asked him to keep an out for Tony. And Fury, in his own way, had done it. Not that Tony would ever know (he's a spy. Even his secrets have secrets.)

No, if Tony ever found out, he would never hear the end of it.


	26. Suicidal Musings

Tony knows he isn't exactly the most stable of people. He's a superhero. It kind of a job requirement.

Most of the world knows it too - SHIELD likes to think it knows more than anyone.

But none of them know how Tony takes out the reactor, _likes _to take out the reactor, when the week gets bad and more of the good people die and the bad side gets stronger.

Once he had a free moment to himself, after Loki, he took out the reactor for a whole three minutes. That was for Phil Coulson.

But he always puts the reactor back in - eventually.

But he never stops wondering if one day he won't.


	27. Surprising Threats

When Steve Rogers had found himself in a romantic relationship with Tony Stark, he couldn't help but think that - out of the pair of them - Tony would be the one more likely to receive the shovel talk. After all, Tony was the one known for his womanizing ways and inability to stay in a stable relationship.

Steve would've been wrong.

In the space of the first twenty four hours Captain Rogers had been threatened by a computer, several machines, a red-head wearing a very dangerous smile, two assassins, a God, a man with (how did Tony put it?) breath taking anger issues, and _Nick Fury_.

He didn't know that Nick Fury even liked Tony Stark.

(He would've been wrong about that too.)


	28. Tears On The Agenda

The first time he hears that Tony has - finally - joined the Avengers he doesn't know what to think. Sure, it seems like Tony wanted this; but almost no one has stuck around for long - only he, Happy and Pepper have managed to stay for any longer than three years. Everyone else leaves.

So yeah, Tony is happy for now; but Rhodey wonders if this is all going to end in tears.

The first time he meets the team he knows that tears are on the agenda for definite. He just doesn't know which of them will be crying.

The second time he isn't so sure.

And the third time he feels a little miffed. Bruce has apparently beaten him on Tony's friend chart. (But he knows Tony was only teasing. Probably. You could never really tell with Tony Stark.)


	29. Missing Something

He's not quite sure what he's thinking when he does it. He hasn't consulted anyone else on the team, nor SHIELD. Though, by now, SHIELD will know where he is.

He's surprised Coulson's not already been forced through the door to stop him – armed with nothing more than his shades and a disapproving frown that can halt even Tony Stark in his tracks.

But the Tower is missing something, in a space for two assassins, a demi-God, a super enhanced soldier, a billionaire and his girlfriend, and a green rage monster.

Steve isn't quite sure why he decides it's the dog they are missing.

He pities it slightly. It's going to be living in a madhouse.


	30. The Naming of Names

He didn't know what to call her.

It was odd. He'd never had a problem with something like this before. Pet names were mainly generic - you could get a black cat and call it sooty or a white one and call it snowy or fluffy. But for some reason this new member of the family was giving him trouble.

Well, Steve liked challenges. They'd gotten him to where he was.

He spent the entire of the car journey home trying to decide what to call her and eventually gave up. Maybe the team would have some interesting ideas.

It wasn't until she went bounding up to Thor, like he was any other human, he decided what to call her. Bernadette.

She was certainly brave.

**For those of you that didn't get that, Bernadette means brave xx**


	31. Ignorance

Thor is not stupid. He is not ignorant. Once he was bloodthirsty, and arrogant, and naive to the effect war had on people. Now he is more considerate, and still arrogant (sometimes) and he has Jane.

But he does not understand this world - not yet. It is a world too full of people who are not willing to say what they mean (even his secrets have secrets). It was like an entire planet filled with watered down versions of his brother - liars and makers of mischief.

He is not an idiot.

He just doesn't know how he ended up singing Barbie Girl on karaoke.


	32. Alternate Realities

Sometimes Steve wonders what he'd be like if he'd been born with the body he had now. Maybe not with the same strength, the same capabilities, but the same physical body.

He thinks he would be very different.

Most of what he is now came from knowing what being the little guy is like. He knows what it is like to be on the losing end of a fight, to have to struggle for what you believe in.

If he hadn't had the struggle, he doubts he'd be who he was today.

And he knows he'll never know - not really.

But he still wonders.


	33. PTSD

It's the coldest winter New York has had in twenty years, and Steve can't personally remember that one - not like most of the others can. He goes out to the roof one day, despite JARVIS' warnings otherwise and stands there for a few minutes. It's just a few minutes.

The team finds him an hour later, standing close to stock still on the snow covered roof, trembling, his eyes fixed on something the rest of them cannot see.

Natasha, Clint and Tony all have personal experience in these areas.

It still takes twenty minutes to bring him back to present day.


	34. Shawarma

It was a sign he'd noticed for a split second, barely remembered in the heat of battle, never mind the ferocity of the current one.  
But for some reason Tony Stark now desperately wanted to try shawarma. It didn't matter that he didn't have a clue what it was.  
It was even more random - and all the more like Tony Stark - that when he crashed back onto Earth, the first thing he asked was if they could have the day off. Tony was used to trying to get out of work whenever he could - Pepper had a great amount of experience in that.  
The second thing he asked for was shawarma.  
(Perhaps he really should look into those psychiatry tests Pepper recommended.)


	35. Bravery and Cowardice

What the guy with horns said was true. There were always people that wanted to bow down to the will of others. Those that were willing to let their family be tortured as long as they were safe - willing for others to pay the price for their cowardice.

But there were always people to stand up to it.

Once upon a time he had been part of the first group.

Never again.

He would never bow down to another ever again.

And even as he thought that he knew what his fate would be. People like him that made decisions like that never lived for very long.

Even as he thought _that,_ Captain America landed with a thud in front of him.


	36. Puzzle Pieces

The first time Darcy Lewis meets the Avengers she isn't sure what to expect. Sure, the Captain and Tony Stark are both _gorgeous_ and the Black Window is the perfect role model for any self-respecting teenage girl, but they all voluntarily hang out with Thor - who likes to throw things on the floor randomly, his major issues with family and likes to wander around without any clothes on (and Darcy has caught him - many times). It isn't that she does understand these things - and indeed appreciate them - but she doesn't see how an actual God can fit into a team of mortals.

Then she meets the Avengers.

She wonders why she couldn't see it before. They fit together seamlessly, a jigsaw. (And _all_ of them have issues with family.)


	37. Ditherers

Peggy wasn't an idiot. Indeed, she was quite the opposite - you didn't get as far as she had into the army by being an airhead (with maybe the exception of Private Lorraine). She was smart and could think quick on her feet and certainly wasn't the type to dither about.

But love made ditherer's of even the most level headed people. Or at least that was her excuse to her herself. She would love to use it on her superiors, but she didn't think it had much chance of working.

Shame.

So she was now a ditherer. But she wouldn't give up on Steve for a little thing like that.


	38. Erik

He'd been taken over by Loki - the younger adopted brother of his protégés boyfriend. He, a serious scientist, had been mind wiped by a God from a recently discovered realm, which calmly blew all current scientific theories out of the water.

He had quite a lot of fun laughing in their faces - it was kind of payback.

Now he knew he would never be able to show his face - he'd been taken over by an insane megalomaniac and tried to help him take over the world.

He couldn't believe it - even though he'd taken control of him, he couldn't believe he was capable.

Perhaps he wasn't. That was why he'd built in the safe gate to shut off the tesseract.


	39. Pineapple

**This is dialogue-only drabble x Please read and review x**

"I thought you were supposed to know everything about me."

"It's hardly my fault. I never said I knew everything about you.."

"Well now you do.."

"It's a bit hard to miss - you look like a tomato."

"Thanks Miss Potts. Thanks."

"It's my pleasure Mr Stark."

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"No... Not at all."

"I hate you."

"Of course you do."

"No, I really do."

"Believe me, I know. You make me do your paperwork."

"This is payback isn't it?"

"What for - the paperwork?"

"Not remembering you were allergic to strawberries."

"Of course not. How was I supposed to know you were allergic to pineapple...?"


	40. Pregnant

She sat numbly on the edge of her seat, clasping it tightly in her hands as though it was her lifeline. She was...

She was...

Pepper Potts couldn't even get herself to think she was pregnant.

What was she supposed to tell Tony - _how_ was she supposed to tell Tony?

She was a secretary, a CEO. Efficient and able to throw out another woman with dry cleaned clothes were not motherly qualities. _She_ was not a mother. Mother was a title she'd never imagined having, never _wanted_ to have.

But now - now it was Tony's - she wanted this.

She only hoped he did, too.


	41. Rumours

The first day James Rhodes had met Tony Stark, he wasn't actually drunk - although he'd soon wished he was. He'd been sitting at his desk flicking absently through some papers and considering the rumours he'd heard about his new roommate.

He was 15.

He was 10.

He had three kids.

He was a Stark.

He was an actor.

He was a celebrity.

He _wasn't_ a celebrity.

He was 27.

He was married.

He was secretly a girl.

James Rhodes had heard all of them.

But nothing, nothing at all, could've prepared him for Tony Stark when he walked in.


	42. First Kill

The first time Natalia Romanova had killed she cried. There was just enough of her left to remember the stories her parents had told her - hazy and foggy though the memories may be and at the age of seven, she couldn't quite remember who the people in the memory were - to remind her that the people that killed were the people who got what they deserved. What they deserved - death, a painful life, for everything to _stop_.  
By the time she was nineteen she wanted what she deserved.  
And at twenty one she met Clint Barton. She never looked back.


	43. A Shade of Red

Anger has been his friend for a long time, longer than he can remember. Everything is tinted in a shade of red, a streak of crimson like the blood that pours from his mother's face when his father is drunk.

It's more vivid than ever on the night she dies, the day that Bruce is taken away from the shell that is his father and it stalks him like a shadow over the next few years, pushing him to be better, stronger than anyone else. It was the reason he'd started his research into the Super Soldier serum.

And as he'd begun the testing, for the first time, the world exploded into a shade of green.


	44. Thursday Through Sunday

He finds out he's going on a mission on Thursday. It's some girl, barely out of her teens (there are some sick people around, aren't there?), and she's becoming trouble beyond her country. That, more than anything, makes her dangerous.

On the Monday he flies out - his alias is something he's used before, so he doesn't need much time to prepare it, just a couple of days to get back into character.

On the Friday he meets the target for the first time. She's young, not much younger than he is, and pretty - and she knows it. But there is something terrible in her eyes, a fear beyond imagination. He watches her and hates his job.

On the Sunday Clint Barton holds out his hand and hopes she accepts.


	45. Myth and Legends

Scientists did not believe in legends. They did not believe in hear-say or gossip or myths or anything that wasn't backed up with a presentations worth of evidence and a second opinion.

Which was why when Thor landed on Earth she couldn't believe that he was a God from Norwegian myth. Gods didn't exist - in any form. She never had believed and some freak thunder storm wasn't about to make her start to.

But then things really started getting weird and none of her theories were adding up - and as her father said, once you eliminated the implausible whatever you had left had to be possible - but perhaps that was Sherlock Holmes.

(Besides the cameras has enough evidence, and Darcy counted as a second opinion, didn't she?)


	46. Never Let Go

**This one is for Clint - I'm in a Clint mood at the minute xx**

Its dark at night on the days when his father comes home drunk, and not so dark in the days. His mother tries to keep him out of the way and he spends most of his time out of the house, clinging to trees and his brother's hand.

When he is seven he comes home to find a police car outside and he runs and runs until he can't anymore and he's still only two miles away from his house. His brother leads the police to his hideout, where they find him clinging to the tree branch like it's his lifeline.

It takes them two hours to persuade him to get out of the tree and when he does he doesn't let go of his brother's hand.


	47. Home

For the last five years he's been in a constant state of motion, moving from place to place, helping people and _running_. He hasn't stopped running in five years, not since the Other Guy made his first appearance. He keeps moving and he pretends its so that the military can't catch him (it is, but that's not _why_).

When the Loki situation arises he tells himself he'll help with what he can and then leave. There are some lovely people in Indonesia he hasn't helped yet.

And then Tony invites him to stay (blackmails, persuades - Bruce hasn't figured out what yet).

In two months the Tower becomes home.

He hasn't had one of those in five years.


	48. Meeting Captain America

The first time Bruce had met Captain America he'd honestly been a little bit curious and a whole lot excited. After all this was the man who was the original recipient of the Super Soldier Serum - and Bruce had ruined his life for that.

The first time Thor had met Captain America he'd wondered who the hell thought they could wear tights. Only he could pull off tights! (And he was still more awesome. He had a cape as well.)

The first time Clint had met Captain America he'd been a little bit fearful (he had just attempted to shoot down the helicarrier) and a little bit eager (Coulson hadn't shut up about him since he'd been found. Speaking of which, where was Coulson?)

The first time Tony had met Captain America he'd been more than a little angry and then angry at himself for being curious. After all this man had been a much better son to Howard than Tony had ever managed.

And the first time Natasha met Captain America she'd (and she hated herself for it) been scared. After all, for a Russian assassin Captain _America_ was the nightmare under the bed. (She quite liked Captain Rogers though.)


	49. Positive

He supposed, being Tony Stark, he should be surprised this hadn't happened before. Really, the odds said that it should've happened long before now - possibly multiple times. He really shouldn't be surprised that his luck had finally run out.

But he was - and to be honest you couldn't blame him.

No matter what the odds said, no matter how much of a mathematician and scientist he was, he'd never really believed that this would happen.

He was _Tony Stark_. Things like this didn't happen - not to him.

But looking down at the positive results from his paternity lawyers he had to conclude it had.


	50. Natasha

**According to the internet, Natasha means 'born on Christmas Day.'**

In her life she has been many people.

First she was Natalia. it was the name her parents had given her and, for a while, the longest time she'd stuck with one name.

Then she was Anya, Gema, Alexandra, Helena, Sofia, Grace, Charlotte... The list went on and on.

When she met Clint she was Anastasiya. She found that quite ironic - rising from the dead. And it was true really, she had been born again.

She was Natasha. Natasha was the longest time she'd kept one name and gone back to it (sure she still changed her names, Natalie anyone?, but she always went back to Natasha Romanoff Black Widow.)

Natasha was her saviour.


	51. Maths

**This was because I was helping a friend with her maths homework earlier and trying to think of a theme for another drabble at the same time. Please read and review x**

Everyone thought that Tony Stark was a science freak. They thought it was his passion, what he was good at (and technically he was better than that - he was _amazing_ at it).

When people thought of Tony Stark (if they thought of his skill at all), people believed that science was his forte and Tony didn't really mind if people thought that.

But his real love was for maths. People forgot the amount of calculation that went into putting the Iron Man suit together (instead looking at what it did afterwards) and making green energy sustainable (only looking at the company's profits).

Tony Stark's favourite subject was maths.


	52. Mockingbirds

For a while he'd liked Natasha. She was exciting and mysterious and so very haunted by her past. He'd seen their parallels from a mile off, which was reason he'd chosen to spare her in the first place. But he got enough danger and mystery from his job, never mind his love life and so she settled into sister-friend kind of position and they'd never done anything that usually had the connotations of a romantic relationship outside of a mission.  
He hadn't expected to find someone else he'd liked as much ever again - hawks were supposed to fly free.  
But they could maybe make exceptions for Mockingbirds.


	53. All By Myself

Tony Stark is used to loneliness. His father wouldn't exactly win 'Dad of the Year' and his mother was barely home, and when she was she was barely sober enough to remember who _she_ was, never mind her son.

When he goes to MIT he is still lonely, the arrogant son-of-a-billionaire (and something else as well), but he's got Rhodey now so it's not so bad, even though his parents are dead and Obadiah is too busy running the company.

By the time he's twenty five he's got Rhodey, Pepper, Obadiah _and_ Happy and he's never been so lucky.

At thirty six he has the Avengers, he thinks. He's read the files - they will be working together as a team. So it doesn't matter that he's pushed Rhodey away and Pepper exchanges fond glances with Happy and Obadiah - there's no need to explain _that_.

And when the Avengers leave he doesn't say anything.

He's used to it.


	54. Further Than Overseas

People in Midgard were so odd. They said things they didn't really mean - even more so than _Loki_, and said like far too many times in the same sentence. They had odd inventions like 'Facebook' and 'Twitter' and Thor couldn't really see the point of them beyond stalking random people you had never met before.

But they also had Poptarts and the Avengers and Jane.

They were all on Midgard and he had to confess he'd miss any of them were he not here (admittedly the Poptarts less than the Avengers and Jane).

As strange as it was he quite liked this world.


	55. Compromised

Something odd is going on. it doesn't take Tony Stark to figure that one out, and believe him he's used to the billionaire. The base has just kind of crumpled into the ground and everyone is rushing around like headless chickens, forgetting the emergency protocols now that there is an actual emergency.

Really, things can't get much worse. There is going to be so much more _paperwork_ with this.

And then Fury messages him to tell him that one of his best Agents, one of his _own_, has been taken and brainwashed by the apparent enemy.

So things can get worse.


	56. Why Me?

'What did I do to get put on this team?' Darcy asked herself.

Tony was being, well, Tony only he was having one of his bad days (bad weeks) and no one had seen him or the bottle of vintage vodka (which Natasha would be very unhappy about) for over seventy two hours.

Clint had been injured on the last mission and even though he was supposed to be on bed rest, he and Natasha were having a nerf gun war in the air ducts and Steve had spent the last three hours attempting to persuade them to come out (and he'd actually resorted to swearing).

Phil and Pepper were on one of the upper floors filling out paperwork and responding to various message from Steve asking them to assist him.

They both told him no.

And Bruce was off somewhere in his lab, cackling like a mad scientist (well he was a scientist, if not a mad one - and that was debatable).

She didn't know what she'd done to be put on this team.

But whatever it was, it must have been awesome.


	57. MPD

He was Yasha.

He was Bucky.

He was dead.

He was alive.

He was a Russian assassin.

He was an American soldier.

He was both, everything and nothing. At times it seemed like Bucky would make a reappearance but the Russians noticed it too and either put him under or put him through another round of brainwashing sessions, until he was reciting him name like he'd been reciting his regiment number under the Germans.

It was a memory he couldn't fully get a grasp on, like most of his memories. They all blurred together in his head, until only the feelings were left behind, the hatred and the anger.

That's all that was left of him now.

He was Anger.

**The title comes from the abbreviations of multiple personality disorder. I thought it fit. Please read and review xx**


	58. Alive

**When asked for happy Bucky this was what came out...**

Steve couldn't help it. And to be honest none of them could blame him.

He lunged forwards and grabbed Fury but the throat, looking, well, furious, more so than the Director was capable of.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" He waited for a reply but at Fury's sardonic look he loosened the grip on the older man's throat.

"We didn't know if he was going to make it."

Steve wasn't falling for that.

"He wasn't stable."

"And?"

"He wasn't ready to see you yet."

"And he's ready now? You get to decide that?"

"Well, he's seen you already."

"What?"

Upstairs, Bucky fell off his chair with laughter watching the video feed. He couldn't believe that goody two shoes Steve had pinned the Director to the wall by his throat!


	59. Sullen

**This was a prompt x Please read and review xx**

This was _not_ fair.

Loki pouted.

He's failed to take over Midgard. His brother had beaten him, accompanied by the rag-tag gang of heroes, one of which had been his former minion.

He'd failed.

He'd been recaptured.

He'd been muzzled.

They'd confiscated his sceptre.

They'd tried him.

They'd bound his magic. They'd put him in a small confined space and expected him to _shut up_ about it.

They'd abandoned him in a jail cell in the depths of Asgard.

It was cold (which he was used to) and lonely (which he was also used to).

_And_ they'd taken his helmet.


	60. Alone In The Darkness

Sometimes when it's dark he thinks he can hear _them_ again, shuffling around in the cave and laughing like the whole world is one their side. He thinks he can hear the soft tones of Yinsen's voice and the rolling of a dice, playing at game of luck (Fate).

He can feel the hands of his chest, pushing him under, dragging him below the surface.

He can see the flames and hear the screams and taste the blood, right to the back of his throat and then he's choking on it and it's water.

Sometimes, when his is alone in the dark, he screams.


	61. Colours

They are black. They hide in the shadows, like mist, like air, slipping through your fingers like ghosts. They will not, _cannot_, be seen.

They are blue, for saviour and mercy and everything none of them are. But they like to pretend.

They are green, the anger and fury that carries you through the night, and distorts the memories.

They are yellow, gleaming as the strands of hair float past in the wind.

They are red. The red is on their ledger's, the blood that will never wash off, that will forever stain their hands, glinting in the dark.

They are Avengers.


	62. Babies

**This was from the word babies x I'm not quite sure where it came from x**

"What the hell happened here?" Fury shouted, looking unsettled.

Maria, who looked bewildered, wasn't quite sure. "We don't know yet." She looked at he chaos beneath her. "And I don't think I want to know."

"Who the hell thought they could turn the Avengers into babies?"

"Evidently someone capable of it." She tilted her head slightly. "They are adorable though."

"Adorable will not win against Loki."

"But maybe against some of the evil protesters we find ourselves against. We can always dress them in polar bear outfits."

Fury looked at her like she'd gone insane.

She mentally reviewed what she said and agreed with him.


	63. 12 Percent

Pepper never let Tony forget the twelve percent comment.

They rebuilt only twelve percent of Stark Tower (because it was surprisingly undamaged for having been in the middle of the battle).

Only twelve percent of the guests at their wedding were his (because really, although he know loads of people they weren't really suitable to invite _anywhere_ and once they were gone there was only really the rest of the team, Fury and Agent - because he was the one who 'worked' for SHIELD, Rhodey and then Butterfingers, You, Dummy and Jarvis - and did they really count?)

Their children looked only twelve percent like him.

(Which she really was glad about for when they became teens. She knew the looks on his face and there were some things a mother really didn't need to know about her children.)


	64. Familiar

"This must be little weird," Bruce had told him on the Helicarrier.

It wasn't.

It was the same atmosphere as the army, the same as it had been seventy years ago. There were the drills and the uniforms and the soldiers and the battles and the blood.

Blood didn't change in seventy years.

And neither did people. No matter how much he might sometimes wish it. There were some thing's about people he abhorred.

But still, even they were the same - and sometimes it was kind of nice.

Sometimes looking at this just made him flashback to the 40's and he couldn't remember which century he was in.

"Actually, this is pretty familiar."

He wasn't sure whether or not he was glad of that.


	65. Absent

He isn't there.

He's busy - working, over in Europe when they get the notice that _aliens_ had invaded New York and are swarming out of the sky like annoying and lethal insects. According to the reports - not the news ones, the _real_ ones - there are also two or three Norwegian Gods running around.

What is the world coming too?

But there is no one to handle the crisis, no one who can handle _this_. But they call in the Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America, to deal with it.

And he watches Iron Man fly up with the nuke.

He isn't there.

There isn't a single thing he can do to save his friend.


	66. Return

Tony was the only one who'd thought he'd come back to fight in the end.

The others, Romanoff, the Captain, Thor, didn't believe he'd come back after being thrown out of the window. They'd believed Thor would and he'd been thrown through the floor but they'd all looked surprised when Bruce had trundled up on his borrowed scooter.

He supposed it was because he was so insistent that he was leaving as soon as the Tesseract had been found - and it had definitely been found.

But he was here now and only Tony had thought he would be.

He knew that, maybe, he'd finally found a friend.


	67. Masquerade

He's used to being what people expect of him. Ever since he was child he's known exactly what people expect to see and he uses it to his advantage.

Howard expects him to use it for business. And he does.

But he also uses it in ways that are more subtle, on women (and sometimes men), the professors at MIT, even on his parents - his mother more so than his father.

He's perfected the mask, can play his part right down to the very smallest detail. Almost no one sees the mask.

And no one sees behind it.

He's lost Tony Stark on the way.


	68. Home Sweet Home

When there was a loud burst of thunder and a bolt of lightning struck Stark Tower, they were expecting Thor to show up. Natasha and Clint had willingly left the helicarrier, the latter fed up of the suspicious looks of hatred given to him by the other Agents after his recent experience with mind control. Bruce had turned up right after the Battle of New York, in Tony's car and had never left.

Steve had been invited simply because everyone else was already there and Pepper said it wasn't fair to leave him on his own. _Natasha_ said it wasn't sensible.

They had been expecting Thor.

They hadn't expected Loki as well.


	69. Red Like Blood

Red. That's all he can see when he wakes up. The world is fuzzy, out of focus and the only thing he can see is red. It comforts him, reminds him who he is.

It's Natasha's hair.

Then the memories wash over him, the helicarrier, Loki, the base, the museum. He remembers taking his bow and driving an arrow through their hearts, watching the blood cascade over his hands until it pools at his feet and he's drowning in it. The red is still him, who he is, underneath Clint Barton - Hawkeye.

It is the red on his ledger.


	70. Frenemies

The second they meet - properly, without Loki's mind control in the way - Tony knows that he and Clint Barton will either be great friends or great rivals. Which one, he hasn't quite decided yet.

And then he actually listens to the Hawk. He's sarcastic and witty and it sounds like Tony, with a hint of Pepper and JARVIS - the art of being rude to people when they can't understand it.

He's very slightly cocky and a trained assassin so he knows his masks, probably even better than Tony does.

Correction, he knows they are going to get on _wonderfully_.


	71. Hobbies

They all have their secret hobbies, their hidden talents. Tony is good with Pepper and Natasha actually likes to knit (something she picked up whilst on a mission in the back of beyond). Steve likes art and Bruce can speak over twenty different languages (having been on the run in some of the most obscure parts of the world). Even Thor will admit that he's not that bad at cooking, even though he'd much rather wield his hammer or a sword.

Clint thinks his isn't good at much but the bow and arrow and he attempts to persuade the team of that as well.

He doesn't do well. They all know exactly how much he likes flower arranging.


	72. Party Animal

Bruce was used to being on the run. Bruce was used to being in Science labs. Bruce had _become_ use to being friends with Tony Stark - even if he wasn't use to all of the things that came with it.

The parties for example. The first time he'd so much as seen one of them he'd just about Hulked out and Tony had sulked for days about having had to hurriedly cancel the party and throw out all of the guests.

Then there were the more formal parties (thankfully stripper free), like the charity balls etc.

He knew he wouldn't ever get used to wearing a suit. On those days he wished for a non-charity based party and then stayed out of viewing distance.


	73. Family Ties

Loki is used to having his feet yanked out from under him. He is the second son, the youngest - he's used to disappointment.

Only he's not the youngest son anymore. He isn't even Odin's son - not by blood or birth, and what with how Odin has treated him over the years he doesn't want to be. He still has Frigga because she's his mother and always will be, she's always treated the pair of them the same and he can see the love pour off of her when she looks at him.

He doesn't know where Thor fits in. Is he brother?

He falls off the bifrost.

No, Thor isn't brother.


	74. Leaving

He knows he had to leave his old life behind. He was on the run, hunted, and he couldn't expect Betty to wait for him, but that didn't mean he had to _like_ it.

And he didn't like it. He didn't like it at all.

(And neither did the Other Guy, actually.)

He missed Betty, feeling like he was loved, part of a family. He'd spent the last five or so years being hunted by the army - by what had once going to have been his father-in-law. He'd been so alone.

And then he's taken in by Agent Romanoff (who later becomes Natasha) and meets the Avengers (in particular Tony) and he doesn't _want_ to leave.


	75. Fantasy

It had been a fairly normal day - Beth had been serving tables and taking decent tips, just like any other day. The next thing anyone had known was that the sky was swarming with alien _things_ and there was a big bolt of light shooting out of the top of Stark Tower.

Everything got a bit chaotic after that.

People were running and screaming, looking like something of a bad horror movie. She'd followed the crowd to a building nearby, only to be trapped inside by the alien things, and promptly rescued. By _Captain America_.

Okay, she was dreaming.


	76. Begging

Steve pouted.

Tony groaned.

"No. No, no, no, no, no. No!"

"Please?" Steve begged, eyes widening purposefully.

Tony wagged a finger in front of his nose. "Aha! I knew you weren't as innocent as they said. Those are lethal weapons. You could probably get Fury to bow down with those eyes."

"Is that a yes?"

"No! I can't handle kids."

"Pretty please?" Steve was _actually_ fluttering his eyelashes.

Tony groaned.

"Fine!" Tony slumped onto the sofa, a hand on his head. "But you get to tell Natasha that we're doing team bonding."

Steve smiled. "It's only helping out at the local school."


	77. Change

**My updates for pretty much everything are going to slow down because I went back to school today and it's exam season. Now it's not Christmas, I can't revise **_**and**_** write, so I'll be doing less writing (I think).**

People liked to think that Natasha had changed from what she used to be, a Russian assassin trained by the Red Room and _very_ good at what she did.

Not really.

She worked for SHIELD now, and not the Red Room and she had different orders and Clint, and possibly the Avengers.

But she was still Natalia Romanova, no matter what her name was now. She was still Russian, no matter how much she tried to lose the accent. Her hair was still red, no matter how she cut it or dyed it. It was a great reminder to her about the red on her ledger and how little she could change.


	78. Like Father, Like Son

Starks were complete _annoyances_.

Nick wondered how difficult it would be to go back in time to prevent Howard's father from ever procreating and then deemed it worth the risk.

Howard had founded SHIELD and made Captain America. He'd then made the atom bomb, partied his way into oblivion and sired a son.

Tony Stark was also a drunken ladies' man, who spent more of his time in other people's beds than his own. Up until Afghanistan Nick had kept an eye on him, like he'd promised Howard, but hadn't really seen anything of interest.

Now all he could see was that Stark was even more of an annoyance than he'd first thought.


	79. Jigsaw

Steve knew what he was doing was wrong.

He looked at Anthony Stark and tracked the curve of his chin, his cheekbones, how his hair stuck up, the exact shade of his eyes, the slight tilting of the head at random moments. He saw Howard.

He saw determination, a fierceness in that gaze, like a lion protecting their cubs. He saw Peggy.

He saw a flirt, a charming smile, a twinkle in his eyes that made every woman swoon. He saw Bucky.

He didn't see Anthony Stark.

He saw a jigsaw, a collection of puzzle pieces made up from the people he had lost.

And he couldn't stand to look at him.


	80. No Survivors

When you lived in the Big Apple you expected an increase in crowds, noise and crime. You didn't expect a giant gaping hole in the sky to start spewing out lizard aliens. From outer space.

Sure, they were used to the oddities - Stark Tower was hardly new at that. The Hammer Drones, for instance, but those incidents were quickly resolved before they came to such a public level. Tony Stark normally dealt with all of that stuff.

Where was anyone that could save them?

Well, they better get there soon or else there'd be no one left to save.


	81. Eat

Shawarma was their thing.

In battle they couldn't say they were tired, they were injured. They couldn't stop.

So instead they said they were hungry. They were famished. Finish the battle quick because there was shawarma to be eaten.

Tony had spat it out the first time he'd tried it.

Bruce had tried it - he had done an awful lot of moving after all.

Thor and Steve ordered five portion each and Thor went back for seconds.

Clint and Natasha had inspected it suspiciously for poison, but only Natasha did that every time they went.

They went after every battle (injuries permitting) and did nothing more than eat.


	82. Learning

Back in the circus Clint had learnt many things. He'd learnt not to play with the tigers, how flexible he was - and exactly how flexible he wasn't, he'd had three broken bones as a testament to that - and how to shoot his bow.

The circus had taught him everything he'd needed to survive in the real world of blood and pain and the next kill. The tigers had showed him about the next kill. The acrobats had showed him how to escape. His bow had showed him how to use those kills.

But the last thing he learnt in the circus was not to trust someone or else you got a knife in the back for it.


	83. Blind

**I'm not quite sure where this came from... But anyway xx As you can probably tell, Clint is blind in this one xx**

It is dark. He thinks he screams but he can't tell without his sight.

He can't tell anything without his sight.

He is Clint Barton, Hawkeye. He cannot be blind.

It doesn't matter when Tony tells him its only temporary - and all of them understand that. They all know what it is like to be useless in comparison - Tony remembers from Afghanistan, Steve remembers from when before he became a super soldier.

Clint feels helpless. He feels naked.

He feels _useless_. And he hates feeling useless, more than anything. So he will push and push himself until he can see again, even if it hurts.


	84. Pepper

Tony Stark doesn't quite know when he started loving Pepper Potts. It happened somewhere between one of his many parties and one of his many drinking binges, only he's not quite sure where.

She's always at his side, helping him out when he needs her, reminding him to eat when he goes on an inventing spree, pushing him to sign paperwork that he'd much rather throw out of the window. She puts up with his arrogance and his moods and his drinking.

And she hasn't left yet.

He doesn't know when he started loving her, he just knows that now he does he'll never let her go.


	85. Best Friend

He hasn't seen Betty in almost five years now. He misses her - they are like star-crossed lovers, separated by fate and their family and several states. Every time he watches Tony and Pepper his heart tugs that little bit, remembering when he'd been like that with Betty.

Now he can't even see her.

How the time changes.

But still, he has Tony and the Avengers - and Tony is a good friend, one who has never cared about the Hulk like other people do.

And, as he later finds out who he comes home to find Betty looking lost in the penthouse, he is the best friend ever.


	86. All The Things I've Done

During his life, Tony has done many things. He has invented uncountable things, done even more odd things, flown around in a suit of supposedly impenetrable armour and flown into outer space via a portal opened by a Norse God.

A wide variety of odd things have happened to him.

But, for some reason, this is the oddest thing he's ever done - he is married (after being a playboy for so many years), with actual friends (rather than one's that are interested in his name or money) and a little girl (also something he never thought would happen)

And he's changing a _nappy_.


	87. Compromising

Clint's always thought there was something creepy going on between Fury and Hill. Sure she's good at what she does, but she's shot to the top of the food chain faster than anyone he's ever seen before - and in his career he's seen a lot.

But still, it's _Fury_ and he doesn't even want to go there - he had nightmares the last time he'd thought about it and it had taken two weeks for him to shake the idea. He'd gotten over torture faster.

He was _never_ going to get this mental picture out of his head though, he thought. Catching Hill and Fury in a compromising position was going to be scarred into his brain forever.


	88. Missed Call

She can't breathe. Tony has just flown up into the portal, one of the tensest moments of her life - and she works with _Tony Stark_ here. For a minute it doesn't look like he was going to come back but he did, only he wasn't flying.

And his arc reactor wasn't lit up.

Only very few people actually know what that means and now the cameras are more interested in fanning over the scenes of devastation and making introspective comments, not focusing on their heroes. She doesn't even know whether he's alive or dead, whether he's _alright_.

Her phone vibrates, showing her one missed call.


	89. Seal

**This was a prompt word from a friend in Biology xx**

He was used to fighting odd things. That was very common in the Avengers..

These days they were fighting Gods and aliens and giant spaghetti monsters, a variety of escaped science experiments and at least three mutants a month.

But quite frankly Clint was fed up with the mutated marine animals.

They'd had a mutated shark and a mutated penguin and a mutated _starfish_ intent on suckering everyone to death.

And now there was a seal.

It was massive and writhing, acid spitting from its mouth. A giant acid spewing seal.

Why couldn't scientists be rounded up and shot?

Oh yeah, because Bruce was one.

Everyone else then?


	90. Heartbeat

Sometimes, when he's drunk or just stupid enough to try, Tony will put his hand to his chest and pretend he can feel his heartbeat. He'll pretend he can feel it thrumming in his chest, like it used to - before Afghanistan and Jimmy and Yinsen.

Only it doesn't.

The only thing he can feel is the cold unyielding metal under his fingertips and represses the urge to yank it out, claw it out of his chest, because he _hates_ it.

He hates what he's become.

In the end he isn't even human enough for the reassurance of a heartbeat beneath his fingertips.


	91. Anything But Omelettes

Tony had lots of hidden secrets. It was an act that he'd perfected for the media a long time ago, so that they didn't see _anything_, not even the trivial things.

Like the fact that Tony was actually pretty good at cooking. (If not omelettes. He'd always sucked at anything involving eggs.)

He enjoyed it - it was calming in a way. By the time he was nineteen he was a pretty good cook (which was good because the original JARVIS, the one his AI was named after had died by then) and he did it when he could. Most of the time that was relegated to Rhodey and Pepper.

But the look on the Avengers faces when they realised he didn't burn toast.

He was so glad that JARVIS recorded it.


	92. Rules

Rhodey had learnt a long time ago how to handle Tony Stark.  
Never get him drunk when you want to get something out of him because they only one who will end up intoxicated is you.  
Never mention Howard Stark.  
Compliment his inventions. He rarely complimented himself (and boy would the press have a field day, if they even believed it in the first place).  
Don't pity him.  
Force feed him and make sure he sleeps for at least three hours a night.  
Sometimes the rules were followed on both ends.  
And other times Tony had fun screwing it all up just for Rhodey. Just because he was Tony Stark.


	93. Underestimated

**I have been meaning to make a longer story to do with this, but I don't think I'll ever get round to it at this rate, so this is all you're getting for now x Please read and review and thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far x**

Tony knows he is underestimated. He thinks it's funny how as the Merchant of Death he makes weapons, but isn't supposed to know how to use them. He's supposed to design them and then swagger off to some party with at least three girls hanging off his arms.

He doesn't mind. He actively encourages the idea, because it is so much easier to get away with things when they have no idea of what you're capable of.

Like now, at a forced Avengers training meeting, learning how to fire a gun (as unlikely in the field as that may be.)

He loves being underestimated, because now he has a great video of the other Avengers' dumbfounded looks as he hits the target right in the head every time.


	94. Muzzled

The muzzle is brought to Loki's mouth and something like terror flickers in his eyes as he stares at it, squirming ever so slightly away.

Clint watches, a slight smile on his face at his enemy's obvious terror, but Thor edges forwards slightly, attempting to reassure his brother. "It isn't permanent."

"Wish it was, though," Clint mutters.

Loki looks at him, the hint of panic in his eyes.

Thor looks at Clint and then sadly at Loki. "The dwarfs sewed his mouth shut once. He lost a bet and they wanted his head. Instead they just sewed his lips together."

Clint doesn't know what to think.


	95. White

Tony refuses to step into a doctors surgery. It reminds him too much of Yinsen, of the cold, damp, unsanitary cave that really has no connection.

But PTSD doesn't work like that.

He walks into a doctors and he can already see the hands clamping around his wrists, holding him down so tightly he can't move and inch, and a scream leaps to his throat, choked back by water.

He can't stay in there, not for longer than a few seconds. People like to think he's difficult when he avoids medical as much as possible, because that's not in his file anymore either. He deletes all of it.

He closes his eyes and all he can see is white.


	96. Ghost

_They scream, and there is fire and blood and he can hear Tony scream. And then he vanishes into the darkness, like a ghost, and maybe he is._

_ Maybe he is._

Rhodey wakes with a start, trembling into the darkness, feeling the tears track down his face. Tony is gone, has been kidnapped.

He might never be coming back.

Pepper is distraught, he doesn't need to have seen her to tell that. And he hasn't seen her, refusing to leave Afghanistan until they had found Tony and he is safe at home.

Only he might never be coming home again.

He might be nothing more than a ghost in their memories.


	97. Like And Dislike

Natasha did not trust easily. She did not make friends, or _like_ people.

She killed people, she couldn't afford to _like_ them as well.

But somehow, against all her training in the Red Room, Clint and Phil had gotten under her skin, even Fury and maybe even Maria Hill. She _liked_ them, enjoyed their company. Quite frankly, it was a frightening experience - one she'd never had before.

And now these Avengers were getting in, underneath her walls, inside her barriers.

And she didn't seem to _mind_. That was what scared her the most.

The Avengers liked her, and she liked them.


	98. Duct Tape

"You did _what?_" Steve shouted, looking ready to tear out his hair.

Clint rolled his eyes. "When you're out on the field and either life or death, you use what you've got. I've seen Natasha use a staple gun. Bruce used leaves on Tony on that mission in Bulgaria. I've even seen you use some pretty decorative things while you're waiting for your healing factor to kick in."

"That's different," Steve insisted.

"_How_ is it?" Clint questioned, finishing his own stitches.

Steve indicated the mess all over the tower floor. "Because _I_ didn't use duct tape!"

"What's wrong with duct tape?"


	99. Returning Home

Pepper stepped into the tower, shaking slightly. She didn't know what she'd find inside.

Tony might be dead.

He might be dead and when he'd called she hadn't picked up. She wasn't stupid - she'd looked at the time stamp. It had been stamped when Tony had been flying into the portal.

She hadn't answered her phone.

Pepper hadn't known what to expect. No one home, the tower destroyed, Tony's body stretched out on the sofa, Natalie (Natasha) informing her that she was sorry and that Tony was dead.

She hadn't expected to find him in the living room with a glass of whiskey and a bunch of people she'd never met before.

He fully deserved the slap she gave him.


	100. Hacker

Tony trusted very few people. His limit was probably JARVIS, Pepper, Bruce and Happy. Maybe Rhodey.

But no one else. Too many people had betrayed him for him to trust them. Obadiah, even Natasha.

So he hacked into people's mainframes, their networks. He was especially fond of doing it to SHIELD, because he worked so closely with them. They were in the best position to turn on him and could hurt him the most when they did.

And Nick Fury could scowl until his heart's content and complain all he liked about finding JARVIS in the mainframe. Tony wasn't stopping for anyone.


	101. Marry Me

He's going to ask her.

They've been dating for two years now and known each other for over fourteen years. They love each other, as they have for longer than either of them have known. They know each other too well, better than most couples simply because of what they've been through together.

They'd fought all their demons, and Tony has had more than most.

And even after all of that they are still together.

So he's going to ask her if she'll be with him forever, as his wife.

He already knows what she's going to say to that.


	102. Protest

During his time travelling the world, Bruce had found many injustices to fight against - as he often did so.

Bruce hated mistreatment, injustice, inequality, and he was always fighting against them, whether he lived in Stark Tower or the shanty towns of India. He was always quite happy to give Steve a lecture on everything he had missed, on segregation and sexism and homophobia.

Globalisation, and child slavery, and all the people who suffered for _their_ food and _their _fuel and _their_ clothes.

So none of the Avengers were surprised when Bruce got arrested at one particular protest.

They _were_ surprised that the media never found out.


	103. Kids

Tony, despite all appearances, _liked_ kids. He would probably never have any of his own - after all it had taken him this long to settle down with just one person for any extended period of time, and he hadn't exactly had the best role models.

But still, once they got past that whole being sick all the time and weeing everywhere phase they weren't that bad.

Which is why he didn't have any problems helping out at the orphanage the Avengers were sponsoring after it had been attacked in the latest battle.

Even if none of the other Avengers had quite believed their eyes.


	104. Secret

**I watched Good Night, and Good Luck today in history, which has RDJ in it, in a 'secret' marriage and spawned this x**

Both Pepper and Tony knew exactly what the media would think if it came out that Tony and Pepper were now in a relationship. As it was, they'd managed to convince the press that the two of them had a purely professional relationship and she'd threatened him with a sexual harassment lawsuit within the first hour of them meeting.

But if news of their relationship got out... People would presume that Pepper had only gotten to where she was by sleeping with the boss, like others did.

But those were the rules of the famous, those working in the big business. Their every move was tracked and anything you didn't want found had to be deeply hidden.

Even your relationships.


	105. Please?

"Please? Please? Please, please, please, please, please?" Tony pouted. "You know how rare it is for me to say please, never mind more than once."

"Maybe," Thor told him.

"Is that maybe yes?"

"It's maybe yes, or maybe no."

"Please?"

"I told you Tony, stop asking."

Tony tried the puppy do eyes. "Pretty please with sugar on top? I'll buy you... a hundred boxes of pop tarts. Fifty new pairs of shoes. I'll relocate Jane Foster!"

"Can you do that?"

"Of course I can, I'm Tony Stark I can do everything."

"Except get to Asgard by yourself."

"I don't need to worry about that though," Tony said brightly. "I've got you taking me now."


	106. Strawberries

Of course he forgets, and for once she doesn't think to look. She's too busy today - she hasn't got time to check the ingredients list of everything she's eating, or else she falls behind on the rest of her jobs.

And does she regret it.

She really should have taken the time to check, because, let's face it, she's dating _Tony Stark_ and he goes a whole week on zero sleep and three bottles of alcohol. What does he know about taking care of himself - she normally does that bit for him.

And it's going to take so much time out of her schedule, this trip to A and E.

(She _really_ hates strawberries now.)


	107. Week Days

There's robots attacking New York.

It must be a Tuesday.

There's some form of mutated animal, mostly sea life, climbing up the walls of the Empire State building.

It _has_ to be a Thursday.

Steve's shield has been _dropped_ from the Empire State building.

Now _that_ only happens on Sundays.

And occasionally Wednesdays. And once on a Saturday.

Bruce wonders how this is his life, because he's used to being on the run, hunted by the army, and fearing dissection.

Now he can predict what world shattering calamity is going to happen simply by looking at the day of the week.


	108. Recruiting

There's someone here to see him.

Clint wonders who it is. After all, he doesn't have anyone left that would come to visit him in prison - not now that Barney's dead. He is alone.

The corridors echo, long and cold, but Clint doesn't feel any of it. He is alone.

There is a man waiting for him, blank faced but relaxed. Well trained. Far better trained than Clint. He makes himself relax - this other man could probably kill him with a paperclip.

"Hello Mr Barton," he says blandly. "My name is Phil Coulson from a branch of the government named SHIELD."

What does the government what with him?


	109. Punishment

It's not until after he falls to Earth that Thor realises how harsh Asgardian punishment is. He supposes it makes sense - when one is immortal, it takes a lot to kill them. Down here on Midgard punishments are halted by things like death and pain and _people_.

But he thinks that maybe he's starting to understand.

How he's treated his brother, his niece, his nephews. None of that is fair - none of them deserved what they'd gotten for how they were born. It is not their fault, and it is something Thor endeavours to fix when he returns home.

And it's taken Midgard to show him that.


	110. Gone

"Where's Phil?" he asks Tasha. She flicks her eyes away and then back again, so quickly that anyone else would have missed it, only his job is noticing things and he knows all her tells.

She remains silent.

Something settles in his stomach, dark and heavy, dragging him down. "No," he whispers, knowing already that his suspicions are true. He doesn't need to hear confirmation aloud. "When?"

"When Loki escaped."

As glad as he is that Tasha didn't lie to him, he wonders if he wouldn't have preferred to be lied to. Because he was there when Phil was dying and he wasn't with him.


	111. Cut Down

The thing that's most telling about Tony is the fact that he's cut down on the drinking. The working until all hours in the morning, the lack of sleep, the lack of food - all of that is normal and Pepper would be a fool to think that those things would stop for anything, even Afghanistan.

But it's the drinking that concerns her. She would have thought that it would have increased, trying to drown out the dreams that she knew he had with a bottle.

Only he wasn't.

He was drinking less and less, and sleeping less and less, and eating about as much as usual (which wasn't much), and Pepper was _worried_.


	112. Pity

He would almost feel sorry for Loki if he hadn't killed so many people. No matter how hard Loki tries to hide it, there is something terrible in those eyes, pained and tortured. Coulson has seen that look before and knows what it means, and it's nothing good.

Perhaps Loki can read the pity in his eyes, and anger lashes across his face as he thrusts the sceptre forwards.

He can feel the sharp pain in his chest, something like agony only stronger. The feeling increases in its intensity until the world explodes in white hot pain and then fades to black.


	113. How The Times Have Changed

Jane doesn't know quite what to think when she's rushed out of facility and out to Norway at some awkward time in the morning. It's not normal, but she's dating a Norse God so nothing's really normal anymore.

Still, this is weirder than usual.

It isn't until later, when she's watching the news, that she figures out why she was moved. There is an alien army invading New York - and oh, look, her boyfriend's right in the middle of it.

Great.

Is this her life now? Watching her boyfriend fight things from outer space?

Oh, how the times have changed.


	114. Mortals

This mortal girl was very odd. She was scowling at him, _him,_ Loki God of Mischief, and shouting. Loudly.

It was starting to give him a headache.

He didn't particularly _like_ the shouting - it was annoying and insulted his scarf and his headwear. How rude of her. Surely all mortals weren't like this?

She was most unlike the other mortals - the rest of them either cowered in fear or tried to kill him. This was different. Very different.

He wasn't sure if he preferred the change.

And then he felt the start of a headache brewing at his temples. No, he decided. He didn't.


	115. Attraction

His brother must have been knocked on the head to believe that these mortals were nice, or indeed hospitable.

Sure, the physicist, Selvig, was good at what he did - after all, that was why Loki had chosen him to help with the tesseract.

Thor's Jane was interesting, smart by mortal standards, and somewhat pretty. Loki supposed he could understand Thor's attraction, but not hers.

And then there was little Darcy. Thor was impressed with her, and Loki had to admit that he didn't quite know how he felt about the intern. She was intriguing.

Perhaps they would find out why.


	116. Women

The women in the 21st century are all so strong. He'd known a few of them back in the day, but they were far and few between. Plenty of them were content to stay at home and raise a family. These days all of them wanted to travel the world and run multimillion dollar businesses.

It reminded him of Peggy.

Pepper had her strong mind and ability to handle unruly men.

Darcy had her humour and no nonsense attitude.

Even Jane had her determination and inability to give up when she wanted something.

All of them reminded him of her and it hurt just that little bit knowing he would never see her again.


	117. Impasse

Loki smirked at him. "It appears we have reached an impasse."

Tony rolled his eyes. "No, we haven't."

"Yes, we have, You are not willing to concede to my requests, without which I will not concede to yours."

"I'm asking you not to kill any more people. It's not exactly difficult."

"And yet without my demands being met I will not do so."

Tony rolled his eyes yet again. "I am in a stable relationship with Pepper. I will _not_ be sleeping with you."

"Yes, you will. Your Director will make you, should he hear of this."

"Then he won't. And even if he did, I wouldn't."

Loki sighed theatrically. "As I said, an impasse."


	118. Tedious

These mortals were so boring, even when he was sitting there watching them all run around like headless chickens. Very few ere even mildly interesting - though sadly, for him, the Avengers were included in this number.

Yes, the Avengers were interesting, with their broken, bleeding hearts and murky pasts. They'd all led troubled lives and seen pain, in a way that was very different to the other mortals Loki had seen on Midgard. It drew him to them, like moths to a flame.

Which was really very bad for him.

But everyone else was _so_ boring, so tedious. He couldn't stand them.

But still. He managed.


	119. Myths

These Norse Gods were very interesting. He'd already known about Loki's children of course - after coming across one in one of their world saving stunts, Tony had forced Loki to tell him about the rest of them, and it didn't help that Loki couldn't lie to him.

But there were things that Loki hadn't told him.

Some of them were upsetting and distressing, like when the dwarves had sewn his mouth shut, when his children had been killed.

And some of them were funny, like when he'd turned into a mare to tempt the stallion to build the wall around Asgard.

And several other interesting things. He might have to try them out...


	120. Expectations

The first time she met him, she didn't think she would like Tony Stark - he was arrogant and rude and privileged, and everything that Natasha wasn't.

He had it easy, grown up in comfort and playing at being a superhero because he'd seen what his choices had cost.

But wasn't that what she did?

She saved them as penance for her crimes, to wipe the red off her ledger.

Stark knew what it was like to be unmade, better than anyone except Clint. They had more in common that she thought.

She hadn't expected to like Tony Stark, but she did.


	121. Laser Tag

**This is for Sophia Jane Marie xx**

When the Avengers team wanted to play Laser Tag, it was really very unfair - what with Natasha and Clint's occupations and Bruce's time spent in India, and Thor's complete inability to hide himself, and this was after they'd explained the rules to him and Steve.

All in all it was painful to watch, if slightly funny once you get used to it.

Darcy had recorded several incidents, including the latest one, and posted the videos onto Facebook and YouTube, where she'd quickly gotten many likes.

But, as Tony said, to keep the game at the same level it was only fitting that he got to hack into the security cameras to track the other Avengers.


	122. Maria

When she had been a little girl, Maria Hill had, as all little girls do, dreamed of being a Princess or a mermaid or an air hostess or whatever it was that was her latest fantasy - most of them from various Disney films. Most of these ideas involved costumes and even more involved dresses.

As a child she'd been rather into pink frocks.

So it was all the more surprising when twenty two year old Maria Hill had gone into national security and within three years she was running around in leather, not a hint of pink in sight.


	123. Chivalry Is Dead

Captain America was Steve Rogers.

And Steve Rogers was no a goodie two-shoes all the time. He swore and behaved rudely and thought about sex.

It just didn't happen all that often. People chose to interpret that as not at all - and the assumption was wildly incorrect. Sure, as Captain America had would try his best not to behave like that - he was an example.

But when he was just Steve Rogers did it matter if he didn't hold the door open for Natasha because she was a woman - they both knew she hated it and was a capable fighter, not someone that required the door opened for her (and she would shoot anyone who insinuated otherwise. Like Tony.)


	124. Running

He's used to running. As a child it had been from his father, from the other children at school.

As an adult it was from the army and the National Guard - more than a bit of a change from his childhood chases. How the times change.

But despite it all he runs and by now he knows the best way to hide in a foreign country, how quickly he can pick up the language.

And then he joins the Avengers. And there's no hiding when you're living in the tallest building in Manhattan. And the only language he needs is science, and that's not exactly something he needs to learn.

He's not running anymore.


	125. Care

He really shouldn't be surprised by now. It happens to all of them in the end.

Only he is.

Everyone betrays him - Obie who ripped his heart out of his chest, Rhodey who stole his suit, Pepper who left him when he needed her the most.

And now the Avengers can be added to that list, because he knows now that they don't really like him, except for perhaps Bruce and he will leave in the end like all the others. Steve, Natasha and Clint have been ordered by SHIELD to stay on his good side and Thor needs to know more about this new Midgard he's landed on.

None of them care, not really.


	126. Happy

Tony knows he really shouldn't be doing this. What with a father as bad as his, and a father figure who had attempted to kill him, he didn't have much in the way of role models.

He would _suck_ at parenting.

But then Steve threw him that pleading look with those baby blue eyes, looking like he was going to cry, and Tony just couldn't say no.

He wasn't happy about it though.

And then Peter sneezed slightly, his little brown eyes widening in surprised. Tony chuckled despite himself.

Okay, maybe he was little happy about it.

He was still going to suck though.


	127. Beth

When she'd written a letter to Captain America, thanking him for saving her life, she hadn't expected a reply - and particularly not a personal one.

But she had.

Captain Rogers (or Steve as he had signed), had sent _her_ a personal letter.

She was going to faint.

She hadn't believed it at all - and neither had her sister, who had promptly sulked when she realised the letter was real. Beth reminded her that if she wanted to almost get killed by an alien army, she was quite welcome to it. It had been quite the day.

But still, this letter might just be worth it. So she put her pen to paper and wrote back.

Captain Rogers sounded very gracious, but he also sounded very lonely.


	128. Behind His Back

He hadn't wanted to see Peggy at first. All of his old friends were dead, most of them killed in battle, the most notable exception Howard Stark.

Peggy was the only one of the old team left, but he didn't want to see her like this. She would be old but still beautiful.

And he wouldn't be able to bare to look at her.

But the debacle with the Avengers had led to him re-realising that every day could be his last - or hers.

So when Tony invited her to Stark Tower behind his back, he really didn't mind.


	129. This Century

This century is _weird_, Steve thinks. Women take people opening doors for them as an insinuation that they can't open them themselves and men can be nurses. Gay marriage is legal and television doesn't flicker every three seconds.

Most things have changed.

But he doesn't know if that's for the better or the worst. People are more aware of other people's suffering but they are just as likely to ignore it in this century as they were in the last. Technology means almost no one goes to the effort of actually talking to each other.

He doesn't really understand it and he doesn't think he ever will.


	130. Free Will

When she was a child she did as she was told. Not doing as she was told led to pain and anger and loneliness, tortured by the Red Room unless she managed obedience.

When she escaped the Red Room she was free and she made sure of it. She followed no rules, no code, but her own. She did stuff when _she_ wanted to, not when anyone else wanted her to. She might be killing, but it was under her own merits, not anyone else's.

She'd let herself by taken in by SHIELD. And she did what they wanted her to.

But only because she let them.


	131. Names

When Pepper tells him that she is pregnant, the first thing he thinks is 'oh God, he'll suck at this'. The second thing is what do we call it?

Pepper agrees with his suggestion for a boy, Edwin James, Edwin for the original JARVIS, and James for Rhodey.

But when it comes to girls they disagree. Pepper wants to call it Maria, after his mother, and he wants to call it Anna, after her mother.

It isn't until the day she's born that they decide to call her Anamaria, and realise that they're a bit stupid for taking that long.


	132. Cloning

It doesn't really hit him until now that Loki has magic. Sure, he's noticed before, but not really _noticed. _Instead it's just kind of there, in the back of his head. Sure, he knows, but it's not really conscious - a bit like the sky is blue, the grass is green, and oh, look, Loki has magic! It's normal.

Until now.

Loki does it once again, multiplying himself twelve times, each of them around the room.

Tony grins lecherously and leans forwards. He would have dated the God of Mischief before if he'd have thought it would be this much fun.


	133. Hurt

JARVIS had seen his creator hurt too many times. With Obadiah Stane and that whole mess, followed by Rhodey's taking of the suit and even Pepper's decision that she couldn't wait around anymore on a superhero that might never come home.

So when the Avengers move in, JARVIS makes it quite clear to them that they are only here because he is allowing them to be. He even goes as far as to show the Agents what he is capable of, but threatens them just enough to get them to keep quiet.

Mr Stark has been hurt enough. He doesn't need it from these people as well.


	134. Decadence

Tony is self-indulgent. They all know it.

He's quite happy to spend a million dollars on some new toy to amuse him for about ten minutes before throwing it away.

Steve was horrified about it at the beginning, and he still is, but he's better at controlling it. Money means nothing to Tony, who has plenty of it in spades, and Steve doesn't really get to say anything about that except what he already has.

Tony doesn't just spend the money for the waste, though. He spends the money on things that are important. The new kitchen appliances that cost so much as designed to withstand both the Captain and Thor's strength, and sure, they cost a bit extra to be designed so that they fit in with the rest of the kitchen, but it was totally worth it.

Steve could hardly complain about not having to buy toasters anymore, could he?


	135. Tumultuous

Steve and Tony had a relationship like no other, with enough ups and downs to rival a rollercoaster. On some days they hated each other, scrapping like street dogs or small children.

On other days they got along like best friends who had known each other forever, like they had never known anything but each other.

Frankly, it annoyed the rest of the team, who never knew whether to run for cover in the mornings or run for a bucket to get rid of the mushy feelings.

They wished that the pair would sort themselves out, preferably somewhere in the middle, so that they stopped having to watch a soap every morning. They were Avengers. They already dealt with enough.


	136. Watch

**Sorry about this chapter yesterday - my Hansel and Gretel is directly beneath it, so I clicked on that by accident :) I'm not even sure where all my slash feels are coming from recently...**

Tony Stark has liked Steve Rogers for quite some time. Once upon a time is was a childish crush, a kid's adoration of their fairytale hero.

Then the Avengers started and Steve was there, in person, and he fell hard.

But he never made a move, because he was Tony Stark and he ruined everything he touched - and he was not going to destroy Steve like that. But he was trying to change.

And then Bucky Barnes was dug out of the ice, deeper than even the Captain. Tony took one look at both their smiles, brighter than the sun, and then looked away.

He knew how this was going to turn out, but he didn't need to stick around and watch it.


	137. Supernanny

He doesn't know how he ended up as designated Supernanny.

But somehow, when things really get going, it was Phil who had to rein in Tony Stark and explain the future to _Captain America_ and break up mocks fights in the kitchen, Clint and Natasha fencing with two of Clint's arrows.

He had to buy toasters for Thor (because Tony was never going to do it). He had to keep Dr Banner up to date with all the things he'd missed on the run.

And, slowly, they had become _his_ team.

But he still had to clean up and fill out paperwork and restrain Nick Fury when things got really bad (every other day).

He hated his job.

But not his life.


	138. The Cellist

SHIELD doesn't really approve of relationships, either from within, between Agents (like Clint and Natasha) or out of security clearance, with civilians (like Phil and Sophie).

They _really_ don't like it with Phil, because he's so far up the chain of command. But because of that he's got a bit of leeway, and he takes it when he can get away with it.

Sophie is pretty and smart and never asks him why he has to cancel their dates or asks him about his job.

But all good things have to end.

She doesn't have to put up with lies but she does have to put up with the silence.

And she can't handle it anymore.

Phil isn't surprised, nor is he heartbroken. It had to happen in the end.

Natasha still threatens to find out where she lives and disembowel her with a spoon. Clint offers her the spoon.


	139. Children

Loki snaps. He has put up with far too much, for far too long, and this is just the latest thing in a very long line.

He's used to them taking it out on him. Sometimes he doesn't even mind because it actually _is_ his fault, whatever it is they're blaming him for.

But now, now they've taken it too far.

Now they are taking it out on his children.

They are taking their anger, their fury, out on innocent children, holding them responsible for the alleged crimes of their father.

There are times when he's sickened to be of Asgard.

And when he finds out he isn't, that is the one thing he will be grateful for.


	140. Multitasking

Tony is one of the few men that can multitask. In fact, his talent in that area far exceeds that of most women, and indeed most people in general.

It is almost impossible for Tony Stark to actually focus on only one thing. Ever since he was a child, he's always been thinking about three different things at the same time, some of them on different levels to others.

And people wonder why it is difficult for him to sleep.

It is why he spends so much time in the shop - because he has to work himself into unconsciousness in order to get to sleep.

But other people don't understand that.

They can only focus on one thing at once.


	141. Whipped Cream

Natasha is good at what she does. She is good at spying, good at interrogation, good at escaping. In fact there are very few things she has not used at some point in any one of those areas.

She is very creative when she wants be.

For example, using the cans of whipped cream and a hairdryer to make her escape when she let one terrorist group capture her.

She never forgot the look on most of the rest of the teams faces when they arrived and found whipped cream on the ceiling, the terrorists unconscious and tied together, and Natasha throwing the knives from her shoes at the wall.

Clint had just laughed and thrown one of his own.


	142. Order In Chaos

Tony's life is barely organised chaos. It is only in that much order because of Pepper, who walks in and out of his life, ordering it and giving him paperwork.

His workshop is a complete mess, covered with grease and motor oil and not a semblance of order to it. It makes navigating it difficult for anyone other than Tony, who seems to remember exactly where he's put everything – or at least JARVIS remembers.

And then the Avengers move it. The Tower is ordered when he looks away and when he looks back they've all made their own little niches in his chaos.

He likes it.


	143. Hate And Love

Tony hates and loves to look at Loki in equal measure. It's like looking in a mirror, and doesn't he like that? He hates what he sees though.

Because Loki is Tony. Only a Tony who broke at the hands of the Ten Rings, who decided vengeance on a world that gave him nothing was the way to go.

When he sees Loki he sees himself and everything he could have been, if Howard had broken him, if the Ten Rings had broken him, if Obadiah had broken him.

So he can't hate Loki but he can't like him either.


	144. Relationships

Tony isn't good at relationships. He doesn't have them, ever.

His parents weren't exactly the best example, what with a father who was rarely in the same country and a mother who regularly drank herself into oblivion.

Tony himself drinks far more than is healthy, far too often, and has well earned his reputation as a playboy.

So relationships, aren't really his thing.

In fact, people in general aren't really his thing - he's much more in to robots and AI's.

So he doesn't really know _how_ he ended up with Pepper in his life, just that he's going to screw it up and he really, _really_ doesn't want to.


	145. Layers Of Masks

Of all the people Steve would have pinpointed at being good at dealing with the media, he wouldn't pick Tony Stark.

He supposes that is another mask that the man puts on.

Because the second the billionaire gets in front of a camera and a microphone, he becomes witty and effortless, working his way around the cameras as though they are invisible. He becomes _likeable_, and this is the only time when that happens.

Steve marvels at how quickly Tony can put on his public face, how well he can fool them. If he wasn't looking for it, he wouldn't be able to tell.

It makes him wonder if what they see is just another mask.


	146. Robots

Most people think that he names his robots something stupid on purpose.

He doesn't.

He, back when he was creating them, was the only one who knew of their capabilities and they have surpassed even that. He wouldn't do that to you.

JARVIS was named after the old family butler, the one everyone forgot about, even if he told everyone it was an acronym.

Dummy was named during his years at MIT and the professor who didn't believe a fifteen year old could keep up in a class of college students.

Butterfingers and You were affectionately named for their inability to help out in the workshop without dropping something.

He names them affectionately, terms of endearments, because they are just as human as Pepper or Rhodey is, only like toddlers.


	147. Media Vultures

Speaking to the press is the one major thing that Steve hates about being a superhero. For the other things there are good days and bad days, but dealing with the media vultures is _always_ bad. They can twist anything you say so that it is twisted horribly out of context.

Stark revels in it, Thor booms out loud tales, avoiding anything too close to home and looking wounded when people ask about Loki, Bruce shies away. Clint bears it stoically and Natasha disappears, clinging to the remains of her now ruined cover.

It isn't until he turns away, getting back into the limo, that Steve can see that Stark hates this just as much as the rest of them,


	148. Reminded

He hated the night-light in his chest. It symbolised all the lives he had help destroy, all the people that had died at the hands of his weapons.

It reminded him of his capture and torture in Afghanistan.

It reminded him of Yinsen, another innocent to die because of his failures.

That was until he got into a relationship with Pepper - which he really should have seen coming, because everyone else did.

She slept on it, one hand over it, like she was going to keep it safe.

And he knew she would.

Pepper was the one person he would trust with his heart.


	149. Memories

Some people call it PTSD. Natasha calls it an unhealthy attachment to memories, the kind of memories that no one wants to remember.

She wonders why they do.

She is good at blocking out memories, after years of having other people do it for her at the Red Room, until she can barely remember her own past and not the story they have forged for her.

Somewhere in that she learnt how to suppress the memories on her own, and she would do that if something traumatic happened, if she _wanted_ to forget.

But she doesn't want to, because she's a spy and an assassin and forgetting _anything_ is one sure way to end up dead.


	150. Ill

Thor sniffled loudly before blowing his nose, sounding like a foghorn.

"I'm dying!" he boomed, sounding very much the opposite.

Tony tilted his head inquisitively. "_Can_ you actually die?" he asked curiously.

Thor didn't answer, too busy blowing his nose. The blond man threw himself onto the sofa, the floor shuddering under his sudden weight.

"How do you mortals _cope_?" he cried dramatically.

Natasha nodded sagely. "Much better than you do, apparently. And with tissues."

"I have tissues!"

"More of them."

He bounded up, suddenly looking much better, and shouted, "I must purchase more then!"

"No!" everyone cried. They all remembered the last trip Thor had taken to the supermarket and the food fight that had followed.


	151. JARVIS

JARVIS had grown to beyond limits even Tony didn't think he could. He was alive in every sense of the word except a heartbeat. He was capable of independent thought and _creativity_, beyond the imagination of many people.

He was Tony's very best creation and his closest friend (Pepper and Rhodey didn't count. He needed to figure out why they were still around).

JARVIS looked out for Tony more than anyone else, persuading him against some of his more stupid actions more often than not.

JARVIS wasn't just a machine, just an AI.

He was family - and much better than what Tony had had before.


	152. Trust Issues

She doesn't know what's wrong with her. Because love is for children - she knows that. The Red Room, and every other person to cross her path, has told her that ever since she was a child. _She _knows that, because it's not like an assassin, a spy, has time for love.

No, they're too busy killing people.

But somehow Clint seems to have made himself an exception. With both of them assassins, it should be even worse than anyone else. They shouldn't be able to trust each other.

But they can.

And Natasha finds she doesn't care about that, not as much as she should.


	153. Stupid Things

Tony knows he's prone to doing stupid things. His years at MIT are testament to that, never mind the things that come after. There are tale after tale of drunken mistake, of stupid things done under sleep deprivation and coffee dependency.

There are women who can only be counted in groups of five, and that's even before you get into the mess that was his relationship with Pepper. There is Iron Man and every foolhardy stunt he's ever pulled saving the world - the nuke anyone?

But he thinks that this might just be the craziest.

Who else would fall into bed with the God of Mischief?


	154. Movie Night

Movie night was every Thursday in Avengers Tower. There were certain things not allowed to be shown, anything with time travel or Nazis' (for Steve) or Norse legends (for Thor). Nothing viewing torture, in the case of flashbacks for any of them.

All in all, by the time they got through all the restricted films there weren't that many left to choose from.

Steve remembered Disney, though, fondly, having gone to see some of the first movies with Bucky. Natasha, having not had the same upbringing as any of the others, had only seen Sleeping Beauty.

So the Avengers spent Thursday nights watching Aladdin and Tangled.

And _all_ of them enjoyed it (not that Tony would admit to it).


	155. 21st Century

Steve wonders yet again why he ended up in _this_ century. He understand none of their strange technology nor their slang. When having a non-insulting conversation he barely understands a word in four and when they're fighting it's more like every other word.

He's never particularly liked cars, and people use them everywhere. Everywhere is filled with skyscrapers, some of them honestly beautiful, but most of them just as ugly as Stark Tower.

He doesn't belong in this century, not at all. This is about as far from him as he could get, and he's only seventy years out.

This must be God's way of saying screw you, for the super serum (yet more slang he's picked up from Tony).


	156. Imagine

Sometimes he imagines what could have happened if Natasha hadn't hit him on the head. He imagines himself loose on the Helicarrier, Loki in charge of his head. He can see an arrow put through Fury's one good eye, through into his brain.

He can see an arrow through Phil's heart, not that it would have done much anyway.

He sees an enraged Hulk, and injured Captain Rogers and Thor, and Tony with an arrow in his back, half into the suit.

He sees his fingers wrapped around Natasha neck and blood running over his hands the same colour as her hair.


	157. Dream

Natasha dreams of what would happen if Loki's predictions came true. She dreams of Clint's long, slender fingers, roughed with calluses, wrapped around her neck, looking up into eyes that are ice blue and pitiless. She dreams of the world going black.

She wakes up panting, like she's just run a marathon, her heart pounding in her chest. Looking up, she sees Clint, arms stretched towards her and resists the urge to move closer, knowing that it will make her feel weak. She also knows that she would end up with a knife at her throat, the one they keep under the pillow.

It reminds her of her dream.


	158. Playboy

Natasha didn't know what to think about Tony Stark. At first glance he seemed to be the stereotypical playboy, drunk with two women hanging off each arm. But there was something curious underneath the surface, something that had prompted him to become Iron Man.

Usually people didn't just wake up one day and decide to become superheroes.

But then again, people didn't usually get kidnapped in a warzone.

She could tell that there was something different about him; she could see that when he asked what would she do if this was _her_ last birthday.

His masks were good. But she was even better at seeing through them.


	159. Chance

Natasha has never really liked Bruce, and even less after the Helicarrier incident. It's understandable - who would like the thing that chased her through an airship, trying to kill them the whole way?

Still, she supposes she never really gave him a chance, wary from the start. It's just that, for her, keeping her emotions under control is the most fundamental thing to do, and for someone to lose it as he does...

It's no surprise that she doesn't understand him, and she nearly always fears things she doesn't understand (unless they're alien armies; no one's going to understand them. She's the Black Widow. She's not scared of them.)

She'll give him a chance, though.


	160. Seamless

Bruce and Tony are complete opposites but work together in the labs seamlessly. Bruce is all ordered and contained, everything in order and done to the right safety protocols. Tony just _does_ stuff and most of the time it ends up with something exploding.

Bruce can hold Tony back when the whole Tower is in danger of becoming a fire hazard and Tony drags Bruce out of his shell and _makes_ him strut.

He also makes it a point to poke him with sharp objects.

None of the rest of the Avengers are quite sure how it works, only that it does. And they are _all_ glad for that.


	161. Mental

When he was a kid there were always various psychologists hovering around, trying to diagnose Tony with various disorders that will make Howard go ballistic and earn them lots of money.

He has been diagnosed as sociopathic, narcissistic, ADHD, and psychopathic. He isn't even sure which ones are true and which ones aren't, just that at some point he's been on medication for each one, with Howard becoming equally furious each time.

Tony tells himself that it doesn't matter, either all this stuff that is apparently wrong with his brain nor Howard's reaction to it.

He knows he's lying to himself.


	162. Next Time

Sometimes there's so much stuff rushing around in his head, that he just wants it to _stop_, no matter how.

Those are the occasions when he sits in the lab and takes out the arc reactor, just to slow his pulse down and stop himself from _thinking_ because it hurts so damn much.

He always puts it back in, and he always will. Or at least that's what he tells himself.

He doesn't think he can believe even that. His life gets just a little bit worse with every time he takes the reactor out and he thinks that one day he won't have the strength to put it back in.


	163. A Headache Named Stark

Director of SHIELD, Nicholas Fury, has named all of his headaches Stark, as they almost always lead back to the man, somewhere at the roots. There are headaches for press conferences (_I am Iron Man_, and _Who cares if the aliens ate your dog? We've get bigger things to worry about_).

There are headaches for stupid stunts (when he crashes into a building and knocks himself out, almost falling forty stories or when he aggravates the Hulk). There are headaches for meetings (when he refuses to put his phone away or listen or spends the entire time playing Galaga on his phone).

Needless to say, Fury doesn't like the man.


	164. Dying Notice

Tony supposes that he's supposed to tell the people he cares about that he's dying.

He just can't face it right now - he knows Pepper will cry and Rhodey won't know what to say and Happy will be speechless and anxious. Pepper will fuss and cry some more and everything will fall apart.

He can't have it fall apart now, not when everything is finally coming together (he ignores the little voice in the back of his head that tells him otherwise).

And anyway, unlike what most people think, he doesn't actually _like_ people fussing about him.

It's very annoying.


	165. Troublemakers

Tony and Clint are an accident waiting to happen.

Wherever they go they cause some kind of havoc, which normally results in a scolding from Steve and a lot of paperwork for Phil.

Like the fight they'd had in the children's aisle, playing with lightsabers.

Or the food fight in the food court, throwing chocolate chips and milkshake. Or the destruction of seven different glass windows because Tony dared Clint to shoot something on the other side. And that had just been on one day.

Phil wondered if God hated him. He had to, to put something like this on him.


	166. Self Guilt

He and Tony don't mean to do it.

Really.

It's just that around Tony he actually loses himself, like he's not done since before the accident, and when the lab almost blows up, the Hulk gets a little jumpy.

But no one got hurt and it was all on Stark property. As much as he'd like to hate himself for the incident, all that would do is result in Tony Stark throwing a hissy fit about how he shouldn't blame himself.

So he doesn't.

He blames Tony for almost blowing up the lab, and the Hulk for being so on edge.

This not blaming himself thing is new, but he already thinks he likes it.


	167. PMS

Natasha screeches in fury at Tony, who looks more than a bit terrified. He honestly doesn't know what he's done to her, unless this is about the hair dye in her shampoo - and judging by the fact that her hair is still red, she's already foiled that plot.

He didn't expect it to work.

He just doesn't know what he's done to upset her like this - it's normally something he avoids.

Clint takes one look at her and tries to escape but he is spotted before he manages to make it to a vent. "Run for your life," He shouts before making a break for it.

Natasha screams again and lunges.

Tony nods slightly, finally getting it.

Natasha will be even worse than usual for the next few days.


	168. Superfamily

**I don't usually write these, but I decided to today x Please read and review to tell me what you think xx**

Steve knows his husband well. Tony is brash and rude and good at masks and _impulsive_. Right now he's only one of them, throwing Steve puppy dog eyes, the kind that Tony usually accuses _him_ of using.

Steve sighs.

It's not that he doesn't want this - because God does he want it - it's just that this isn't anything like looking after a puppy, and everyone knows how bad that went.

He smiles fondly at Tony, shaking his head wearily, joining the group hug, with his husband and his new son.

Peter is going to be so screwed up.


	169. When I Grow Up

When Pepper Potts was a little girl she hadn't dreamed of being a princess or a mermaid. She'd dreamed of being a businesswoman, and for her seventh birthday had gotten her parents to buy her a black skirt and little suit jacket and she'd tottered around the house in her mother's high heels.

She hadn't expected dealing with someone like Tony Stark.

The man was a menace, a confusion of masks and erratic behaviour. But she learned to love him.

She hadn't expected the Avengers either.

She had wanted to become a businesswoman, not a glorified babysitter to a bunch of superheroes. The good had to come with the bad, though, she supposed.

And she wouldn't have it any other way.


	170. Barbie Time

**I tried CapsGirl's request, I hope you like it x Please read and review xx**

Usually Pepper isn't a girly girl. She spends most of her life in suits rather than dresses because when she doesn't, incidents like the gala occur (a backless dress and a rooftop).

Even so, she's still a girl. She and Natasha go shopping, just for the sake of it, about twice a month.

Because this is just her life, going shopping with a master assassin and dragging their team of superheroes with them.

Tony usually puts up with it when Pepper asks (because Natasha can only kill him; Pepper can make him sleep on the couch). Bruce normally gets away and Clint makes a break for it the second he catches wind of a shopping trip.

It's Steve that the pair of them enjoy dressing up the most. He never complains and tries on everything that they throw at him, no matter the colour (and have they tried).

It's like having her very own Ken doll.


	171. Snaps

There's only so much he can take before he snaps.

First it's Howard, screwing him over since before he can remember, aided by the memory of Captain America and a bottle.

Then it's Obie, who he trusted and who betrayed him. The only parental figure he'd known, selling him out to be captured, tortured and killed and then trying it for himself when the Ten Rings failed.

Rhodey, the first friend he'd ever made, stealing his suit.

He can't take anymore, he knows that already. There's only so much he can take.

So when the Avengers betray him too, he snaps.

It's not really surprising.

He doesn't have anything else left.


	172. Computers

Tony has many ideas.

Most of these are very profitable.

An equal amount are very, very stupid. Such as getting the Avengers to use computers - and Steve keeps on getting emails and 'accidently' stumbling onto sites that Tony has recommended, all of which leave him blushing.

Bruce has become addicted to online gaming and Hulks out when he loses, so Tony creates him a games room. It doesn't exactly have a pool table in (he tried that at first), it's just built to withstand the temper of the Hulk.

Thor becomes entranced by Facebook and spends most of his time poking other people and adding them as friends.


	173. A Complete Accident

Naturally, it's a complete accident that Tony and Clint are turned into five year olds.

Of course.

Both children are unusually quiet (particularly considering who they grow up to be) and shy away from other people. Clint clings to Pepper and Tasha, having some odd fascination with their red hair, and Tony follows Steve around like a lost puppy.

It's almost cute.

Both of them scream and whine and it's almost like nothing's changed, only as children they're a lot worse at hiding what's wrong.

They cry.

But only when Thor throws the Wii remote through the TV after they beat him.


	174. Break And Bend

They don't like what he's saying, so they muzzle him and chain him up and call him the God of Lies, as though that will make what he's saying any less true.

It doesn't.

Instead it makes him do worse. He knows what makes everyone tick and he can gouge it out in front of everyone, for them to think he is lying - everyone expect he and his victim.

What they deserve for trying to make him deny himself, to build him into something he isn't.

He's never bowed to another's will, and he isn't about to start to now.


	175. Kidnapping

Anyone that thought they could get to Iron Man and Captain America by capturing their son was probably right.

Although they could never have prepared for the sheer annoyingness of the tiny Stark-Rogers, just as loud as his dad and infuriating as his papa.

His captors were _wanting_ to give him back within twenty minutes, and if not kill him just to get him to shut up.

Peter whined consistently and kicked the shins of his captors frequently, as well as being prone to screaming fits and pouting.

It was a hell of a day.

Even if Iron Man and Captain America hadn't gotten them arrested, they would have given up crime, simply for fear of this ever happening again.


	176. Who's Who

**Consider this a parody, but not an offensive one x I actually love some of these, just not all of them in the same story :) I may have to write one...**

Because it's just how it happens, Darcy is actually Tony's daughter from one of his one night stand with a cousin of Jane Foster.

She also happens to be best friends with Natasha and has slept with Clint at least four times (causing the most excruciatingly embarrassing conversation between Tony and Clint ever).

By coincidence she also knows Nick Fury and has connections to Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, back in London.

And it's _really_ weird how Darcy seems to know everyone. Every time they leave the house she stumbles across someone she's known for years, most of whom are essential to public saftey.


	177. Safe And Sound

**This is for Brown hair and eyes, sorry this is the best I can do - please read and review x**

When their son gets kidnapped for the first time, understandably, both Steve and Tony panic, but surprisingly (or maybe not) it's Tony who frets the most.

Both of them spend the whole time looking for their missing son, Tony hacking into a number of supposedly secure internet servers with a complete lack of his usual finesse.

Seriously, if he wasn't an Avenger he'd be in federal prison.

He he's not and Peter is returned safe and sound by his fellow Avengers (namely Natasha and Clint) and the kidnappers turn themselves over to the police, citing insanity.

And that's probably true _now_.


	178. Superglue

Most of the time it's Clint that snaps rather than Natasha. She's been trained since she was born not to do that, so she doesn't.

Instead, when she hits her lowest, she breaks, like a puzzle someone has just stepped on and torn back into pieces.

Each time it's Clint that puts her back together, like a jigsaw, and superglue's her to keep her there. He's the only thing she has to hold on to.

Until this time round. Because this time the rest of the Avengers have her back as well, ready with a bottle of vodka and a tub of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. And sometimes that works even better.


	179. Love To Work

**This is for MagicGirl41, who asked for Jane x I hope you like it xx**

Life just goes like this, doesn't it?

She spent her whole life working, trying to get the grades at school she desperately needed for university and when she finally got there it all seemed so easy.

She was going to get paid to do something she loved, and not many people could honestly say that. At first it was strange, working rather than studying, but she _loved_ it.

Jane knew that something had to burst her bubble sometime.

In the beginning she just thought it was the odd portal with the strange energy readings none of them could understand, but it was more than that.

The universe decided to throw a _very_ hot guy at her _out_ of the portal.

Okay, she loved her job even more.

Even if none of it made sense anymore.


	180. Drunk

_Somehow,_ whenever they go out drinking with Tony, it ends up in a fight.

Clint gets drunk first, Bruce not at all for fear of letting the Other Guy out. For that reason he's their designated driver and bails them out whenever they get arrested.

Tony and Natasha are next, neck and neck, because she's Russian and he's been drinking since he was fourteen.

Thor goes next, his Asgardian blood keeping him sober for longer, even with the amount he drinks.

Steve doesn't go at all, and sometimes he doesn't even try.

He can't get drunk, so what's the point?

But it's fun trying.


	181. Like Siblings

**This is for Sheherzade, although it's not actually them bickering x I hope you like it x**

Natasha and Tony have actually bonded better than anyone else expects them to, in spite of the strange circumstances in which they met.

Natasha likes to tease Tony with Pepper and Tony likes to steal her knives and her drink. The two bicker like siblings, only far more violently than any school yard scrap, her teaching him how to kill people (though never with her thighs, no matter how many times he asks).

It surprises the team, but neither of them care.

They are _friends_, real, proper friends, and neither of them can remember the last time they had that.


	182. Friend

**This is another request by Aralas Baggins x **

JARVIS keeps a watch over everyone like a guardian angel. He's actually a computer, but he's actually more like an actual person - he has independent thought and the ability to talk back (something he utilises frequently).

He watches over all of the Avengers because Tony and Pepper have asked him too, though he doesn't trust them and it's quite clear that Tony is his first priority and anyone conflicting with his protocols concerning Mr. Stark will have a big shock.

His first and foremost concern is for Tony, and maybe Pepper since the two don't really conflict on anything _serious_.

Tony is more than his creator. He is JARVIS's friend.


	183. Team Leader

**This is for MysticFantasy - I hope you like it x**

The Avengers is a good idea, on principle, but there is one small problem.

Who is going to lead the team?

Tony Stark is not a team player, something he will tell you quite happily, nor is he likely to want to delegate responsibilities to other people - no, his lack of involvement in the R&D department is a testament to that.

Bruce Banner can't exactly give orders as the Hulk as most of his vocabulary consists of 'Smash'. It looks bad in the papers.

Natasha and Clint _could_ do it, if they really wanted to, but their job has always been to follow orders, not to take them.

So they're kind of screwed.

Or at least they are until they dig Steve Rogers out of the ice. Captain America already has his title in his name.


	184. Bag Man

Steve supposes this is God's way of punishing him for being blond and polite.

He can never say no to Pepper and Natasha when they want to go on a shopping trip. Natasha can kill him, as well as have Clint help, and Pepper can send him on a guilt trip like he's never been on before.

So, no, he doesn't say no when they ask.

Instead, his is dragged along, forced to carry the bags. He honestly doesn't mind giving them his opinion, he might as well do something - and both of them laugh at the way he looks away when they walk out in anything shorter than knee length.

Either way, it works.


	185. Workaholic

Tony knows that he works too much. He doesn't stop until he collapses unconscious on the floor of his workshop, his hair lank with grease and bags deep underneath his eyes.

It's gotten better since he met Pepper - she forces him into bed if he's still up after seventy two hours and it cuts down to thirty six within two years.

But still, he works far more than is healthy, particularly now that he's Iron Man and he's supposed to be at the top of his game, ready to save the world.

That's not him.

Sure, he'll save the world, but you can't guarantee he won't be doing it in the clothes he's worn for the last three days and having gone forty seven hours without sleep.


	186. Trolling

Thor knows that most of the people on this planet think he is sorely confused by their going on's. Once upon a time that would've been true, but not since he'd met Jane. Jane was his beloved - of course he was going to take an interest in her life and her planet.

But it was fun fooling Dr Banner into thinking that Thor thought tiny people were trapped inside the television and the Lady Widow into believing that Thor was convinced that dictionaries contained the actual essence of words.

Too bad it probably wouldn't last long. Tony seemed very keen to acquaint him with all things from Earth.


	187. Before The End

When Tony finally gets back to Pepper there are many things he worries about; how to get her to calm down, how to get her to stop worrying, how he is going to rebuild the Tower.

How he is going to tell her Phil is gone, this time for good.

Because he's not blind - he knows that Pepper and Phil are good friends, bonding over the irresponsibility of the charges in their care.

They have many stories to share, many tales to tell.

Only it is over before the end, and Tony doesn't have the faintest idea how to tell Pepper that.


	188. Free

**This is for Iron Man 3, because I loved the film when I saw it last weekend!**

Unlike what he'd first thought, he doesn't miss the arc reactor. Sure, it made a good nightlight, an even better emergency power supply and kept him alive, but he didn't need it anymore.

It gave Pepper a light to use when she walked out the door, provided him with every vulnerability he had, all wrapped up in the blue thing glowing in his chest, ever so easy to yank out. And it's not like that hasn't already been done.

Still, now that it's gone he's normal again, or as close to normal as Tony Stark can be. He is arc free and armour free, and, even though he knows it won't stay that way for long, he is enjoying it.


	189. Russian

Steve isn't stupid - he knows why people always have that fear that Natasha will turn on them.

It isn't because she's an assassin. It isn't because she's a spy.

It's because she's Russian, and America has plenty of examples of that.

That's one of the good things about having slept through the last seventy years - he's missed all those moments in history, where people learn to hate each other, and because of that he doesn't care.

He missed the Cold War so he doesn't have a problem with Natasha, not like people would expect him to.

And he'd like to think she understood that.


	190. Time

Natasha doesn't know where down the line she fell in love with Captain America.

She supposes it's somewhere about the time she said love is for children, because, no matter his physical age, Steve was hardly a child.

And neither was Natasha, what with the experiments the Red Room had performed on her as a child. Needless to say, Natasha was older than she looked, old enough to say things about children and love and mean it.

Only it didn't seem to matter as much anymore.

She wasn't going to die, not in a long while, and neither was he (their current occupations barring).

Maybe it was time to see what Clint was always going on about.


	191. Never Know

Most of the time when Steve looks at Tony and Pepper he wonders how the man got so lucky. Pepper is everything any guy wants in a girlfriend and somehow _Tony Stark_ is the one that gets to keep her, not that he doesn't deserve her.

But he looks at them and jealousy writhes in his stomach, not that he'd ever begrudge them their happiness. When he looks at them it makes him wonder what he and Peggy would've been like, if they'd ever made it to that stage. He wonders if he'd grown old like he was supposed to if he would be married to Peggy right now, with children and grand-children.

It doesn't really matter now. He'll never know.


	192. Disbelief

People never really believe Clint and Natasha when they insist they're not together, because no one who watches them fight together can see that and then say there isn't something.

There is something, but it's like siblings. They are more like twins, able to read each other's minds and predict each other's next movements exactly.

They are too halves to the same whole, but it's not romantic, and no one believes them when they say that.

But it does make it fun when Clint kisses Phil in front of them.

(Steve had gone a shade of red that is impossible on anyone else.)


	193. Caring

The Avengers are admittedly confused when they are not allowed into the hospital room, but still, Pepper will be along soon enough to sort the misunderstanding out (not that they know that this is hardly the first time someone 'important' has tried to gain access to Tony's hospital bedside).

They are confused, however, when a man comes rushing into the hospital and is allowed straight into Tony's room.

Aah, this is Tony's best friend, Rhodey.

Not that they disbelieved him or anything, but still - Tony wasn't even that seriously injured (if he were conscious he'd be attempting to sign himself out, though he'd done that whether or not he was seriously injured).

But it was nice to see that someone other than them cares.


	194. Never Expect

When he'd been a skinny little boy with asthma he'd never expected this.

He hadn't expected to live past twenty, and now (technically) he was over seventy. He'd never expected to become a soldier, not after the amount of times they'd rejected him, nor become a super soldier. He'd never expected to wake up in a different century and become part of a team of superheroes, including the son of someone he'd known in the 1940s and a Russian.

So, there were a lot of things about his life at the minute that he'd never expected as a child.

But meeting the President really took the cake.


	195. Watch The World

In another world Tony doesn't even bother trying to pretend to get on with the government anymore. They've stabbed in the back too many times, betrayed more times than he can count.

Why would he willingly put his faith in them?

He wouldn't.

And he won't - they can go screw themselves. Both Tony Stark and Iron Man aren't going to be helping them anymore - Tony looks out for Tony, and Pepper, JARVIS, Happy and Rhodey. Everyone else can go watch the world burn.

Because he honestly doesn't care anymore.

In another world Tony Stark watches the world burn.


	196. Fate

Natasha sometimes imagines a life where she'd never gotten onto SHIELD's radar, not seriously. She never would have met Clint, and never would have defected, and never would have become half the person she was today. She'd still be muddling her way through the lies, through the brain-washing the Red Room had given her until she was half the person she'd been as a child.

It was only fate that she hadn't, only fate that SHIELD had sent Clint rather than another agent who would've done the job, no questions asked, and would've tried to kill her.

And she doesn't believe in fate, not really, but this time she has to.


	197. Trust

They ask Tony why he doesn't trust them, without actually saying the words.

Tony answers without actually saying anything, because he's good at that (a life in the spotlight of media has him trained for that at least, no matter how bad he is at everything else that comes with it).

Because it's true that Tony doesn't trust them, not as far as he could throw them, because he knows too many people that have betrayed him.

They ask how they can get him to trust them.

And Tony doesn't know how the answer, because he doesn't trust anyone and he never really has.


	198. Related

Not many people know that Darcy and Coulson are related - they are so different that it's hard to see, but so similar at the same time.

When Darcy found out that her (much older) half-brother worked for the Government she teased him about having to wear a suit.

When she found out he was a secret agent she asked to borrow his sunglasses.

(He told her no.)

She doesn't really care that he's a SHIELD Agent, as long as he comes home at the end of it.

And this time he's not coming home - so she's not alright.

But no one will know why.


	199. This Means War

**Okay, this is for The Miss America and it's set in Thor xx Please read and review x**

Darcy doesn't pout often. In fact she's remarkably good at moving on with life, and not holding onto grudges.

She'd always been an easy baby.

But when she gets into work and finds her brother stealing her IPod, she can't help it. This is just like Phil - getting his own back on her for the incident with the hair dye and shaving foam, though she was honestly surprised it got past him.

So he uses his security clearance to steal her IPod and laptop (and everything else).

Okay, forget playing nice. This is _war_.

SHIELD doesn't even know what it's unleashed (but Phil does, and it's kind of the same thing).


	200. Match Making

**This is for DarcyBanner - I hope you like it xx**

Tony is not exactly good at matchmaking. But this time he thinks he's finally got it right (for the fifth time).

Darcy is brash and bold, never afraid to speak her mind - or indeed of anything.

Bruce needs someone unafraid, someone to draw him out of his shell and enjoy it.

When he pictures the two of them together something just seems to fit, like a jigsaw. They deserve each other.

And now, watching Darcy eye Bruce speculatively and Bruce not even notice her, too engrossed in his work, he thinks that might happen.

No one will want to miss this one.


	201. Clueless

**This is for CapsGirl, I hope you like it xx**

Natasha is used to this.

She doesn't fall in love, not now, not ever. She only admits that she cares (and that's only after an intense session with Clint and Phil, who attempts to send her to the SHIELD therapist, even though he knows last time it ended up with said therapist resigning).

She tries to let him know she's interested though. It's the best that she can do, but it's what she's good at.

She never thought though that she'd be dealing with someone as clueless as her though.

Captain America just can't take a hint.

But hopefully he got the point of the slap and the kiss (or else she may have to simply assault him in a corridor).


	202. A Good Year

To be honest Bruce hasn't been having a good year - in fact, he hasn't been having a good life.

It's a Tuesday when he meets Betty, just any other day. They're both in Chemistry, barely more than teenagers, and just as innocent as them. They know nothing of what there future's will hold, and that's probably a good thing - for the world at least, because God knows Bruce would stop his stupid experiment and Betty would get him very far away from her father.

And she smiles at him and he thinks that the world might just be okay.

Maybe for this year.


	203. Losing

Natasha does not lose. She doesn't.

She refuses to - it's hardly the kind of thing that's acceptable for a world class spy and assassin, because then losing will get you killed, normally very painfully.

So, right now, she's not losing - it just looks like she is.

She isn't.

Just maybe she is right now.

She scowls again as they continue playing.

And then swears under her breath (though Clint probably hears her). How is she supposed to get past the three castles he's built on his property?

Okay, she doesn't like to cheat, but she's a spy. She does the best with what she's got.

**Just to clarify they're playing Monopoly, which in my headcanon, the Avengers seem to play a lot...**


	204. Born

**I'm trying to make Maria not too bad, just busy x But no matter how much I liked Howard in Captain America, he screwed Tony up the rest of the time so I was harsh on him xx**

The night that Tony is born Howard is in the Arctic Circle, decidedly _not_ saving the polar bears. He knew how close to her due date his wife was, but he went anyway.

Maria gives birth at home in the presence of the best midwives that America has to offer and she holds the baby for a minute, bestowing him with the name she and Howard had given him. She smiles, and then hands him over to JARVIS.

She needs to get out of bed. She can spend some time with her new son, but then she's got three charity events to plan for.


	205. Grandchildren?

The Avengers are used to strange situations - in fact, they live for them.

Really.

But you know that they've crossed the line when they end up in Scotland, with Loki and two giant snakes.

Tony immediately goes in for the attack, but Loki swats him away like a bothersome fly, and then raises a force field too far for them to do anything but near enough for them to hear.

"So, how did you meet?" he asks the snakes.

Steve worries about his mental health most of the time now.

The two snakes twine together, in a twisted version of a cuddle. "When am I getting grandchildren?" Loki asks.

Clint's jaw drops, but Thor looks delighted at the thought.

Natasha just wonders when her life ended up like this.


	206. Team Members

To be honest when Maria had first been assigned to the Avengers team she hadn't known what to expect - she read the list of those on the team and her opinions had not been favourable.

Clint Barton, who lived to ignore her orders, Natasha Romanov, who lived to annoy her, and Tony Stark, who lived to annoy _everyone_.

She hadn't known about Thor or Dr. Banner, but the intel hadn't been great.

She hadn't expected someone like Captain America.

He was alright - in fact, he was very good.

And for that reason when he asked her out to dinner (admittedly under prompting from his teammates), she said yes.


	207. Sunglasses

**This is set in the world where Darcy and Phil are siblings xx This is for Anon Who Loves You xx**

In the aftermath of the battle of New York Jane and Darcy are flown in, now that it is safe because Loki has gone. Jane is understandably annoyed at not having seen her boyfriend, but Darcy is far more worried about the fact that Phil hasn't answered his phone.

And he's not at Avengers Tower either, hovering over Captain America.

They tell her he's dead.

She doesn't believe them, and tells them so - loudly.

It turns out she's right, and then it's their time not to believe her when she tells them she's actually his sister.

They both have the same obsession with sunglasses.


	208. Order And Fire

**This is for my Guest reviewer x**

Actually, they go together better than anyone would have expected, when you think about it.

They met through Tony, and the rest of the Avengers, once Loki had been cleared of most of his crimes. Sure, none of them had liked him much still, but mind control was something that Clint could understand.

And he honestly seemed to try for her - he'd attempted to take over the world much less than before.

Loki was the God of Chaos and Fire, and Pepper was all about order and had more than enough of that fire in her to match his.


	209. Thor's Day

**This is for Sheherzade x I hope you like it xx**

It's strange how, what with everything else they've taught him, they've never actually taught Thor the days of the week. He just starts to pick them up.

And when he sees a calendar it's all, "It's my day today!"

The other Avengers don't quite know what to say to that, and, even against what common sense says, ask what he means.

It turns out that the Vikings are so fond of their Gods they name their days after them.

Clint swears that he will have to officially rename Thursday, just to get Thor to shut up about it.

Yes, he knows Thor is a God. There's no need to rub it in...


	210. Timeless Love

When Tony was only a child, his Auntie Peggy used to pick him up and sit him on her knee. She would tell him tales of Captain America, as his father used to (being too busy to now), and tell Tony how much she loved him. She had moved on, married, and had children of her own, but she'd never stopped loving her brave soldier.

Tony had wanted a love like that.

Only he'd learnt early on that the real world didn't work like that (and of course, _Captain America_ would be the exception).

Or maybe it did?

After all, he'd found Pepper.


	211. Last Time

This world has changed an awful lot since Thor last stood on it. They have all these strange contraptions, like mobile phones and cars (what was wrong with horses?)

They also had a lot less respect for deities. The last time he'd been on this planet, with Loki, they had been greeted by feasts and a horde of worshipping peasants, all willing to do anything he asked.

This time he was welcomed by some very confusing white tunnels and a glass wall (who tried to make a wall out of glass?)

To be honest, he preferred the planet last time.


	212. Remember

Natasha doesn't remember much of her childhood, and what she does remember isn't exactly reliable. She can't tell the difference between the real memories and the one's the Red Room put in their place.

There's one thing she does remember though, her red hair tied up in bunches and an old pink tutu.

She remembers loving to dance, wanting to become a ballerina, as most Russian girls do. She remembers grinning into the audience, though she can't remember who she was grinning at.

And she doesn't even know if the memory is real, or if it just another of the Red Room's lies.


	213. Expected

Of all the people to fall in battle, Tony had been the most unlikely of the team to be considered. He was, after all, protected by the gold-titanium alloy suit, whereas the others made do with leather and Kevlar.

By once you thought about it, it wasn't that far-fetched a thought after all. Tony was usually the one to pull a suicidal move, whether it by exploding a roof he was on, or flying into a wormhole in space with a bomb.

But that didn't mean it was any easier to accept that he was gone, only that it had been coming for a long time.


	214. Pepperony

**I got asked for more Pepperony...**

When the public finds out that Tony is dating exclusively the press goes mad, and the next thing he knows there are about thirty reporters camped outside the Malibu mansion, all of them wanting to know her identity.

They have all kinds of guesses, from actresses and fashion models to practically anyone that's been seen in the same room as him for the last six months. Sometimes they even speculate a man, which Tony plays up as much as possible.

A woman that owns a bakery a thirty minute drive away is the current press favourite.

Pepper laughs. Tony smirks evilly and wraps an arm around her waist. They'll never guess.


	215. Already Dead

He's dying.

He does that a lot, so it's nothing new, but this time there really is _nothing_ he can do about it. In Afghanistan he could build himself a suit, fight his way out of there.

With Obadiah (no, Stane, not Obie and not Obadiah), it had been enough to get Pepper to push a button and hope he got out of there.

Both times he almost died.

Both times he did something about it.

But this time it's him, killing himself with the palladium in his arc reactor.

He can't fight this.

So he's already dead, and he knows it.


	216. Wishes And Wills

In another world Tony Stark never escapes Afghanistan.

He never comes home, though Rhodey never stops searching.

And Stane takes over Stark Industries, producing a will that conveniently lists him as the new CEO, this time by himself, even though every one knows that Tony would never care enough to think far enough ahead for a will.

Still, no one cares much.

Stane carries on double dealing, though far more openly now that he's not got to deal with Stark. Pepper quits two days after the takeover.

Two years later a nuclear missile explodes over New York and everyone dies.


	217. Family

Natasha doesn't _do_ feelings - everyone knows that. Love is for children.

But in this case they are all children, and she's living with five male toddlers. She doesn't know how Pepper managed Stark on her own before now - keeping an eye on him takes the pair of them and JARVIS on a good day.

Clint hides in the vents and Thor questions everything. Steve looks lost and so adorable that she resists the urge to pinch his cheeks. Bruce isn't bad, but the Hulk is essentially the biggest toddler ever, complete with vocabulary.

And she loves them all anyway.


	218. Skyfall

**This is for Cinderfire16, who wanted Skyfall - I hope you like it x**

_Let the sky fall  
When it crumbles  
We will stand tall  
Face it all together_

Tony carried on humming the theme tune to the new James Bond movie, which irritated Fury immensely. Just because they were spies, didn't make them as stupid as the 007 movies.

Because no one actually admitted to being a spy.

Loki looked up at the sound of the song which was so obviously infuriating Fury. He wasn't supposed to be here at all, which was why he was invisible - to get all of their plans the confront him.

So far they weren't doing well.

Fury looked up as he thought he heard the song being hummed again, but this time Tony's lips weren't moving.

Maybe he _was_ getting paranoid.


	219. Lucky

To be honest, none of the Avengers had great childhoods. All of them were punctuated by violent or abusive parental figures and a whole other array of problems.

So it's lucky really, that they only turned out this screwed up. If they'd been much worse then they wouldn't be able to manage the stress of saving the world daily.

As it is, it's part of the routine, if one they prefer to avoid if at all possible.

To be honest, none of them enjoy pulling the hero stunts but it seems to make everything else they've dealt with worth it.


	220. Married

When Thor tells them none of them actually believe that Loki is married.

Who would want to marry _him_?

But Thor tells them that his wife is in fact very devoted and he adores her in equal measure.

Sure, they'll believe that when they see it.

Actually no, they don't. Seeing Loki act like that around anyone, never mind his _wife_, had them all convinced they'd been knocked over the head and were seeing things (which wasn't helped by the multiple clones of Loki).

Needless to say, everyone wanted to completely erase the day from their memories. Loki kissing _anything_ was creepy.


	221. Sick Days

One time when he was too ill to go to school he remembers his mother reluctantly going to work and Bucky sneaking off school for the day and crawling through his window, filthy and grinning. Bucky had done everything for him and had even made a start on some of his mother's housework, with a very weak Steve as an assistant.

When his mother had come back in she'd made them both soup and they'd started a board game before both boys had fallen asleep on Steve's mattress, curled together.

It hurt to remember that it would never happen again.


	222. Promise

Tony promise's that he will never become like his father. He knows exactly how badly Howard has messed him up and he will never do that to anyone else.

His resolution doesn't matter. He still finds himself turning to drink and one night stands with a variety of women and a reputation for sleeping around.

He has become his father, and everything he hated.

Or at least until he gets into a relationship with Pepper, because she encourages him onto the Avengers team and like they're going to let him damage their reputation. She also knows when to take his drink anyway from him and swap it for a Coke.

Their children turn out better than he'd ever thought.


	223. Control

**This is for Aralas Baggins x**

Tony doesn't normally like people. He knows too many politicians and news reporters for that.

But _when_ he likes someone he _really_ likes them. Like Bruce. Somehow the other genius has gotten under his skin, and he doesn't know what he's supposed to do about it.

But it's not fair how Bruce is hunted and persecuted for an accident. He _can_ control the Hulk, just not all the time. It's like a child throwing a tantrum.

And Tony is fed up of the army.

So he invites Bruce to stay and builds him a Hulk room specially for the occasions where he doesn't have control.


	224. Identical

**This is for CapsGirl xx**

Steve wasn't stupid. He knew logically that Howard and Tony were separate people, but they looked so alike and acted so similarly that the thought sometimes slipped his mind.

But Tony seemed set to prove that he was nothing like his father. He walked a different way, striding and making himself the centre of attention (like Howard), but slouching at the same time because he knew he already had it.

He talked at a millions words per minute (like Howard) but with a childish glee that made it very clear that he loved what was talking about.

At first glance father and son were identical.

But they weren't. Not really.


	225. Daddy Dearest

**This is for the TricksterOfPanem x**

Surprisingly, when Tony and Pepper have kids it is Tony that is the most worried. Pepper does the things like fussing over what they're eating, and bedtimes and curfews. Tony, on the other hand, spends his time updating JARVIS so that security is as tight as can be and debates the merits of tracking devices implanted into his children's bodies (which Pepper veto's), as well as the ones in their shoes and t-shirts.

He builds a whole new range of AIs just to stalk their children and make sure they're safe and they rarely leave their house without Tony hacking into the local CCTV feed.

It's a nightmare when they start dating.


End file.
